


Change Your Stars (Only For Yourself)

by ChelseasDeadSmile



Series: Becoming Whole [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alec Lightwood Deserves Nice Things, Alec Lightwood's Stutter, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, BAMF Raphael Santiago, BAMF Simon Lewis, Bad Parent Maryse Lightwood, Bad Parent Robert Lightwood, Bottom Alec Lightwood, Bullying, Camille Belcourt Being An Asshole, Cuddly Alec Lightwood, Fatherly Luke Garroway, First Kiss, Growing Hope, Hodge Starkweather Being Awesome, Hurt/Comfort, Imogen Herondale Being An Asshole, Insecure Alec Lightwood, Jonathan Morgenstern Being An Asshole, Magnus Bane Is A Freewheeling Bisexual, Masturbation in Bathroom, Mentions of Suicide, Multi, Murderous Magnus Bane, Nervous Alec, Physical Abuse, Possessive Magnus Bane, Protective Luke Garroway, Protective Raphael, Ragnor Fell Is Inspirational, References to Teen Wolf (TV), Sad Alec, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Acceptance Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, Shy Alec Lightwood, Sleep Deprivation, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Top Magnus Bane, Undeserved Punishment, Verbal Abuse, body image issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-06
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2018-12-24 12:22:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 42
Words: 51,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12012648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChelseasDeadSmile/pseuds/ChelseasDeadSmile
Summary: When Alexander Gideon Lightwood entered high school, he was the chubby version of a teen hiding his full potential despite knowing that, back in Kindergarten, the beautiful Magnus Bane didn't want him as his friend but his wife.Updated Every Tuesday!





	1. Freshman Year, Thurs 9/7/2017

**Author's Note:**

> This story came to me after I was waking up a couple days ago so I decided to start writing on it to see if anything could come from it, and, well, it has. If Magnus progresses the way my mind is telling me he wants to, I'll be putting up additional tags to support it. Right now, however, I hope you all enjoy ^ ^
> 
> Also, I know that some of the chapters will be incredibly short, but they just sometimes feel right ending where they do.
> 
>  **School Started:** Thursday September 7, 2017  
>  (This is the actual day that NYC schools started.)

When Alexander Gideon Lightwood entered high school, he was the chubby version of a teen hiding his full potential despite knowing that, back in Kindergarten, the beautiful Magnus Bane didn't want him as his friend but his wife. Alec always looked back on that memory fondly, because Magnus had chosen him, Alec, out of the entire class to proclaim to be his after just knowing him for five whole hours.

_"Magnus, why aren't you making more friends? I'm sure Alec wants to play by himself for a little while" Mrs. Epps tells the little Indonesian boy who, after hearing what she said, puffed up like a Thanksgiving turkey looking for all the world that he was attempting to look menacingly angry at the teacher._

_Magnus opened his mouth and proclaimed, "Not friend, wife!" He then had grabbed Alec's hand and took him to where the blocks were where they proceeded to stack them one on top of the other until the tower fell down to the ground._

It was that day and everyday after it that Alec looked forward to spending with his "husband" at the school the two of them were going to, but, even though he hoped and wished Magnus would stay by his side, his little, beautiful, kind husband left him when his family moved to California after his Dad got a job offer he just couldn't refuse.

Now, in freshman year, Alec had perfected the art of being a shadow after Magnus was forced away from him, Alec's personal, beautiful brand of sunlight was forced away from him leaving him to learn how to maneuver in the crowded hallways despite his size, learned to only speak when strictly spoken to, and how to avoid the jocks that wished to make his life hell while his younger siblings flourished in the spotlight of the popular crowds with their good looks and equally loving attitudes.

While Alec took a giant step backward, they both took giant steps forwards pulling away from their older brother who was hung up on a boy from the past, a boy, who'd be the only person he could fall in love with; nobody else seemed adequate enough to feel his love like the little boy that had told everyone Alec was his wife rather than his friend.

That first day of high school, everyone was excited to come back together in order to form new and old social bonds, yet, Alec couldn't possibly join them since he wasn't one to have any social bonds - at all. Socializing was like watching a charging bull running at him, and all Alec wanted to do was run for his life away from it for fear of his peers finding out that he was incapable of falling in love with anyone (even Annie Thomas who was the school's bookworm, whom, rumoredly, had a threesome with two college Freshmen last year.)

So, yes, socializing was moot, nonexistent, and utterly void of his day-to-day life despite Izzy and Jace's attempts at getting him to open the hardened shell that Alec used to protect himself from the constant negative comments from his own parents and classmates. He knows he isn't the ideal elder son, big brother, or friend but, aside from all of that, he was a very kind, loving, and loyal person...if only the people in his life could see past his outer shell just to see the boy underneath it all maybe, then, they'd accept him as he is - flaws and all.

Right now, however, he's trying to evade Camille Belcourt at all costs; ever since Magnus moved away, the teen has decided to try to make his life a living hell (keyword there being try, since, she has never been able to catch him.) He was weaving through the general populace of the school when he accidentally bashes into someone as he was trying to see how far he was from Camille. Toppling over one another, Alec's first response to the situation is to immediately apologize, the next? Blush at the gorgeous face staring up at him, and then proceed to get out of there like the hounds of hell were nipping at his heels.

He never took the time to look at the beauty that he'd crashed into, because, if he had, he'd have seen the little boy that he loved with all of his heart staring back at him, only, he was all grown up now.


	2. 9/7/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we get introduced to an inspirational character who sees beyond what Alec is to who he should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little longer than the first as I changed some things around from the original version of it.
> 
> Warning: Accidental Self-Harm.

Do you know what humiliation feels like? People sometimes say it starts in your head or your stomach, but, for Alec at least, it started at his heart. So incredibly insecure is he that he, literally, takes every jab, every punch, every bad word and look, everything that people throw at him that is negative in any way to his heart and it serves the purpose to slowly kill him inside.

Unlike the average, popular, perception of the emotional community of teenagers that find self-destruction more appealing than something more constructive in dealing with their feelings, Alec finds throwing things much more soothing. He likes to kick, hit, and throw his body around at inanimate objects that way he is hurting something that isn't, really, himself; his idea of destruction is, literally, demolishing something that isn't him or another human being since he'd never be able to live with himself if he hurt someone else just to let them feel what he was feeling...it wouldn't be right.

He exploded, he destructed, and now he's got gravel in his hands and blood pouring from them after hitting the ground trying to get his humiliation, anger, and hurt out. The first day of school and he already wanted out; he wanted to leave despite his Mother and Father saying he couldn't miss one day of school.

Taking deep breaths in order to close the floodgates to his heart, he got up from the ground so he could have enough time to see the nurse before first period. Making his way there, he made sure to cover the part of his hands where his pinky fingers were so no one could see the blood dripping down from his hands; he didn't want anyone thinking of him as more of a freak than they already said he was.

Getting to the nurse's office without incident, Alec reluctantly tells the nurse what happened to his hands without letting her know that he'd, virtually, had a mental breakdown from all of the emotions already running rampant through his mind. All he longed for while the nurse bandaged his hands was for his sketch pad that had characters he'd drown in it that could take on the bullies he is forced to face, who had so much courage and confidence in themselves that they could tell them all off without really thinking about it, and had more friends than Alec did...which was zero.

In his sketchpad, Alec was this attractive hero that was known for being stern but fair, grumpy but kind, harsh but loving, he could shoot a bow and arrow with ease, but, most importantly, he willingly flung himself head first into battle when it came to facing his own, personal, demons. The Alec that he drew was a man that was the glue to his family, the one that brought them all together in the end after a hard-won battle between good and evil, and a man that was unafraid of his feelings for an attractive man that had helped him battle the greatest demon of all - himself.

The bell for first-period rings and Alec is forced to trudge to a room not far away from the nurse's office. For his entire school career, he's been forced to take Speech as his first class of each year, because the stutter that he suffers from just refuses to go away even with all of the work that he and the teachers are doing to just get it to lessen, but it always returns despite all of the work both of them put into making it go away for a while.

He wasn't as hopeless as King Albert of England, but, it seems his mind just couldn't stop the auditory flaw in his speech. He figured, if he could get past it, maybe he would be able to start changing himself on the outside as said before, however, it seemed to be near hopeless as it fought to remain right where it's settled no matter what Alec and his teachers did.

Alec knew it had to be from some form of anxiety that's kept him this way, but, like all teenagers that are as illogical as he was, he refused to believe he had a social anxiety or whatever it was that was causing his stammer to remain in place.

As he walked into the room, a man in his mid-to-late thirties was sitting in a chair with the aura of a college professor, "Well, come on in and sit down, Mr. Lightwood. I'm Ragnor Fell, your new speech therapist" Ragnor said motioning Alec into the room and into a seat opposite him. "Now, from what I can see from your file, it shows you can make progress, but, that progress seems to fall back down to the level it was, do you know why?" Ragnor asked him taking off his glasses so he could look at Alec directly.

Alec nodded his head not saying a word to the Englishman, "Come on then, use your words" Ragnor coaxed trying to get Alec to open up his mouth and talk, but Alec stubbornly refused not wanting to embarrass himself more than once that day. "Alec, I know that many of them have gotten you to open your mouth and talk eventually, but, my trick is to use that embarrassment that you're feeling right now to fuel the fire into wanting to talk. Instead of shutting your mouth to keep from embarrassing yourself with something you want to say just go on and say it" Ragnor told him before getting up from his chair putting his glasses down on the table between them.

"Hell, say a curse word for all I care. Scream the word fuck from the top of your lungs, but use that embarrassment to show people that you have a voice and you want to use it" the Brit says and, immediately, it was like the words struck a chord within Alexander like no one else had been able too.

He tried to do as the man said by using the growing embarrassment he was feeling to say the appointed word, "F-Fu-F-F..." he stopped in order to try to build his courage up a little more, "That's it, Mr. Lightwood, that's it" Ragnor encouraged trying to get Alec to spit the word out, "Fu-F-Fu-F" Alec stuttered out, but nothing came of it which made him feel so sad and embarrassed even more when he had tried to force himself to try getting one word out on the first day.

"Hey, it's alright. This is just the first step that you'll be taking to bettering yourself. I know you must be feeling even more embarrassed, sad, and maybe even a little ashamed but you have to remember that we all start somewhere. You trying just now shows that you have some determination in you that says you can do what you set out to do even when you are feeling at your lowest. Somewhere in there is a man wanting to come out and show the world who he is" Ragnor says comforting Alec looking the flush-faced boy in the eyes digging his words into the teenager.

Ragnor, from the second he looked into Alec's file then upon the boy, knew that a man of potential was lying dormant within him; was lying in wait for the time he could finally break out of the shell that was the soft exterior of a teenager before him. The boy wasn't being allowed to break out from the shell, because those around him kept hardening it hoping the potential he possessed would, eventually, die; not on Ragnor's watch, no, never on his watch now.

He started mentally making plans for ways to get this teenager to stop expressing his emotions in a way that wasn't his voice. If he could build this teenagers self-esteem up to a level where he can stand on, the boy himself would reach for the stars on his own; Alec knew what he wanted, he just didn't have anyone to help him get there.

As the bell rang for the first period to end, Ragnor imparted one last piece of advice to the teen, "Whenever you feel like the world is crashing in on you, instead of taking it out on something that isn't constructive, try taking those feelings of hurt and flipping them into something better - make someone else's day brighter be it, someone, you know, or, a complete stranger. Maybe, then, the weight of the bad will be turned into something good."


	3. 9/7/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we get a bit of a Malec moment before the Authoress screws it up horribly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up, but I've decided to start updating every Tuesday so it can give me enough time to revise and edit chapters to lengthen them a bit more before I'm ready to post them up.

As he saw Alec get up from his seat and make his way towards the door, Ragnor look on at him. The boy had such potential to do and be so many great things, and yet, the boy wasn't being allowed to be them because he was looked down upon by everyone that glimpsed at him, knew him, or even tried to befriend him at some point. No one was seeing what Ragnor was seeing, they weren't seeing the man that lied beneath the weight of the world.

Exiting the Speech room, Alec made his way to World Geography down the Freshman hallway. Mr. Rodriguez seemed like a nice man as he tried to make World Geography seem fun for them, but, all Alec could pay attention to was what Mr. Fell told him - that he should use his embarrassment to fuel the fire of the words he wishes to say to the people constantly hurting him, and to turn all the negativity being thrown at him into something good. Something that could start making himself feel like the world, did, want him - it just had a funny way of showing it.

He didn't get how he was supposed to do what Mr. Fell said for him to do when his peers never let him get a word in edgewise though. How was he supposed to make them give him the time to stutter out one, simple, word that they can easily say without a thought to it? He didn't know at all, but he desperately wished to.

Standing up as the class ended, feeling the heavy weight of his emotions upon his shoulders once more, he kept his head bowed as he trudged out of World Geography. When he was walking down the hall, once again not paying attention to where he was going, he bumped into someone on accident for a second time that day, "Watch where you're going freak!" came a growled, annoyed, voice that immediately clued Alec in on Raphael Santiago's presence. Cursing in his head that he had been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed Camille's right-hand man standing right in front of him, he prepared himself for the verbal tongue lashing that was sure to ensue.

"Tù estùpido pedazo de..." Raphael was going to rip him a new, Spanish worded, wound right into Alec's heart when a hand on Raphael's shoulder stopped the Hispanic teen in his tracks. "Now, now, I wouldn't want to hurt the poor boy's feelings, especially, when the boy could turn your words right back to you one day" came a voice so smooth it was like melted caramel drizzling on a hot summer day. It made Alec want to swim in it and let it consume him never to let go even if he drowned; it reminded him of how his little husband was trying to make his voice sound when he was around Alec, ethereal, surreal, blink-and-you-miss-it.

Bringing his light hazel eyes up to look at who was defending him, of all the people in the hallway, and he swears he's seen Heaven for the first time in his mortal life. This man was everything Alec wanted to be, confident, cool, and utterly perfect. The jeweled golden green eyes gave the Asian away so easily in his mind as he thought back to the little boy whose eyes were so captivating when he was younger. There was no doubt in Alec's mind that this was his Magnus Bane, his little husband.

The Asian teen, unexpectedly, walked closer to Alec taking him in, bending into his ear so he could whisper into it, "I didn't recognize you before, but, oh, how could I forget such beautiful eyes like those of my pretty, pretty wife." Alec's whole being shuddered as his body seemed to get closer to the Asian without him noticing, wanting to be closer to the man that resembled the little boy he'd fallen in love with.

Alec longed to touch him, to feel him, to let Magnus encompass him in his arms like he used to after Alec would scrape his knees in Kindergarten, but, but Alec couldn't allow himself to do that. He couldn't give into the temptation that Magnus was offering him and, yes, he firmly believes this handsome, stunning, teenager was his Magnus from all those years ago - the resemblance was too uncanny.

Taking a firm, hesitant, step back, Alec left the one person he loves with all of his heart behind with him shouting, "Alec! Alec!" But he just kept walking and weaving through the crowds in order to ditch him to make it to PE class. Oh, his heart was in his throat having wanted to savor the feeling of being so close to his sunlight once more, but he wasn't allowed to.

Magnus Bane was so far out of his league that Alec was sitting on the bench in the dugout while he watched from afar as Magnus was playing baseball with the other popular teenagers. Alec had convinced himself long ago that he wasn't worthy of Magnus despite the yearning for him growing in his chest; he'd settle for being able to look at him if only to save him from all of the darkness Alec had surrounded and been surrounded by - he couldn't allow himself to snuff out the one ray of sunlight in his life.

With a heavy heart, Alec enters PE class knowing that he should've stayed with Magnus for an extra few seconds just to be able to absorb some of his brightness, but Alec couldn't allow himself to indulge in his sunlight when he, himself, can not give what is taken.

He couldn't deprive Magnus of the happiness he should be giving back to the teen when all Alec is feeling is sadness, he couldn't throw his shadows over him in hopes of him still shining brightly in the end.

He couldn't, he wouldn't, he isn't going to.


	4. 9/7/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we get a first glimpse into Magnus' mind before the Authoress hides while begging the readers forgiveness.
> 
> Warning: Mild Graphic Violence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick bit of info: The Inland Taipan and Belcher's Sea Snake are two of the most venomous snakes on Earth and are both docile unless threatened.

Magnus was confused and hurt as the boy of his dreams ran away from him, but the darkness, the sadness, the torment within his wife's eyes were so easy to see if you knew just where to look. Someone or somebodies have hurt him to the point that he's become such a different person to the loving, trusting, little boy that Magnus had known when they were both younger. That little boy had a spirit in him, but that spirit wasn't there when Magnus was able to see into his eyes.

The spirit had been smothered away, but by what? He doesn't know, but he plans to find out as he takes a deep breath into his lungs as confusion and hurt made way for the fires of anger and possessiveness that started to kindle within him. Whoever had hurt his beautiful wife would pay with anything and everything he could possibly do to them short of murdering them in their sleep.

If he needs to Blackmail them, then so be it, if he had to find out their worst fears and use it against them, then so be it, if he had to pull pranks on them to get them to stop, then so be it. Magnus isn't above becoming petty with whatever he needs to do to make Alexander's life better, after all, he vowed the day he told the teacher the hazel-eyed boy was his wife that he'd do anything to protect him and, now, Magnus had to start with getting in the good graces of the one person who could be behind it all. The one person who, Magnus knew, had grown too big for the panties they were.

Camille Belcourt.

The woman looked and acted like she owned the school even though she was only a lowly Freshman. If Magnus had to play poor, new-boy-looking-for-friends, then, the viper of a woman would be the first one he'd go to. He'd get into her good graces, he'd trust her with little white lies he'd sprinkle to her while, in turn, she'd be telling him anything and everything without knowing she'd be opening her wide open trap about it all.

Camille may see herself as an Inland Taipan, but he was the Belcher's Sea Snake, he'd make her cower before himself when all is said and done. He'd make her look like nothing but a harmless Garden Snake when he was through with her, and when he was, Alexander could start shining like the brightest star in the sky; he'd shine with the likes of the sun, and such a bright sun he'd be.

His Alexander would be such a confident, amazing, and strong wife who'll show everyone around him just how strong he is when he is given the ability to be who he was supposed to be all this time, and they'll all wish they'd known him from the beginning.

His beautiful, bright, shining star.

~~**~~

As Alec walked into PE, he dreaded what he knew was going to be coming from all of his peers (both male and female) when they realize that Alec wasn't as physically fit as they all were. Right as he walked through the gymnasium doors, all he wanted to do was walk right back out of them, but he couldn't...he wasn't allowed to if he wanted to pass Freshman year at all so he forcefully made himself walk towards the Boy's Locker Room, and he was immediately met with his male peers joking around while changing.

"Hey, hey, look who decided to make his unwelcomed presence known" Jonathan Morgenstern laughed as looked directly at Alec who flinched and looked down knowing that there was no Magnus to save him from a bully this time around, and he hasn't even figured out what Ragnor was telling him by "using his embarrassment to fuel the words he wants to say".

The shove to his chest came as a surprise immediately forcing him out of his thoughts as Jonathan pushed him harshly into the lockers behind him, "I'm talking to you freak!" Jonathan shouted as he then punched Alec in his left eye just to make sure he had Alec's full attention.

Pain exploded in his head as the stronger teens fist made contact with his eye and eye socket, but that was just the beginning of the beating that Jonathan started giving him while everyone else just shouted slurs and degrading comments at Alec not at all willing to help the downed boy despite knowing he was hurting from all the kicks and hits that the teen was delivering to his body...a few of them even willing to join in on the beating all because they wanted to look cool in Jonathan's eyes.

None of them noticed a dark, messy-haired boy slip away from their crowd in order to inform Mr. Starkweather about what was happening in the locker room. The boy couldn't stand anyone being hurt no matter how people saw them; freak, geek, punk, whatever - it wasn't right to hurt someone who was incapable of fighting back, who didn't want to fight back.

"Hey! What's going on here?" Mr. Starkweather shouted at all the boys surrounding the four or so boys laying into Alec with all their might. "Oh, shit! Run!" another boy in the crowd shouted which resulted in a lot of the boys to run out the locker room door leaving only Jonathan Morgenstern and four other boys behind who were panting over an unmoving Alec.

"What the hell do you think you five are doing?" the older man growled out to the five of them, but it was Jonathan that spoke up first. "Just teaching this fat fuck a lesson" the teen spat out before, turning to Alec and hocking a loogie onto his jacket covered arm, kicks him in his solar plexus again for good measure.

A, by now unconscious, Alec let out a reflexive groan at the air was knocked out of his body once more. Hodge narrowed his eyes at the boys menacingly, "I'm ashamed of all five of you" he said in a disgusted tone of voice. The boy behind him, Simon Lewis, was happy that he wasn't on the butt end of this man's anger because he looked like he wanted to commit homicide with what the five teens have done to Alec Lightwood.

Simon has, by no means, ever talked to the other teen, but he's seen that he hasn't had such a good life growing up after Kindergarten; the kid had only one friend ever, and that friend had moved away before he was able to really get into school. Now, the guy had no one he could lean on for support or anything, and everyone was either too afraid or too unwilling to become his friend...not even his own siblings were his friends.

Isabelle Lightwood was, by far, one of the most popular people in their Elementary school along with the blonde-haired Jace Wayland, but neither of them had stuck up for Alec once; they just did what the popular kids did, and shamed Alec for anything and everything they could. Everyone Simon had talked with trash talked Alec just because it was the popular thing to do.

But even Simon was at fault and, as he watched Hodge escort all five of the teens to the Principal's office with strict instructions to call 911 for Alec, he felt like one of the most horrible people on the entire planet as he went to sit by the unconscious boy. He, himself, never tried to befriend Alec, he never once even looked at him or the people he was forced to be around...he just trudged on with his life not caring to think about others outside of the people he was friends with; he never spoke poorly about Alec, but it was all the same that he never tried to be there for him either.

After calling 911, he sat there in a fetal position beside the teen that everyone teased and tormented, and he let the guilt of knowing he didn't even try to stop Jonathan from beating him up all through the last ten, painful, minutes of Alec's life.

He didn't do anything for the first ten years of it either...he'd just sat back and watched.  



	5. 9/7/2017 - Fri 9/8/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we finally meet Maryse and Robert, and a worried Hodge Starkweather. Also, Alec lets everyone in on what he wants to be.

Bleary eyes open up, as best as they can, to take in a white room with two overhead lights that are currently turned off then, moving to look around the room, spots a couple of empty chairs to the left side, and one chair on the right side occupied by, whom Alec guessed, was his PE Teacher Mr. Starkweather who was currently reading a book with a desk lamp on giving him just enough light to read it.

"M-M..." Alec tried to start stuttering out, but the pain in his mouth came full force upon him making him stop all attempts at actually trying to get any words out of his mouth, but his trying wasn't in vain when the older man looked up to see Alec wide awake and in pain. "Alec, thank the gods you woke up. You made Ragnor and I think you wouldn't for a minute there" he said as he moved himself and his chair closer to Alec's right side.

Alec went still even though he was in an immense amount of pain because he wasn't used to someone (let alone two people) actually caring about him for more than pushing him into things or saying hurtful words to him. He was used to torment and teasing, and yet, here is this man that Alec doesn't even know saying that he'd been frightened when Alec hadn't woken in some sort of time limit that he and his Speech teacher had agreed upon thus leading to them being worried about him.

It made something inside him ache in a way that he hasn't felt in a long time, but him feeling such things was very dangerous as it was liable to lead people to taking advantage of that small spark of light within him, so, he forced himself to smother it before it could grow from the teachers caring words. He was expecting any minute now for his parents to come barging into the room and demanding he "gets up off his fat, useless ass" so they could all go home and be ready for another day tomorrow.

He's never been beaten up this harshly before, it's usually a few punches without any real power behind them, but, the power had been behind every single punch, kick, and stomp made by the five teenagers that'd beaten him this time around. They'd been out for blood, and blood they had gotten if his lips and nose had anything to say about it.

"Hey, I know you're in pain, but can you tell me what caused Jonathan Morgenstern, along with the other boys, to want to beat you up? I can more than likely guess it was an unprovoked attack, but I need you to tell me what happened" Mr. Starkweather asked him softly looking so caring that all Alec wanted to do was to blurt out how miserable his whole life has been up to that point, but he couldn't, so, he started trying to answer the question while moving his mouth as little as possible.

"I-I j-ju-j-just w-wa-w...walked int-in-into th-t-the l-l-l-lock-locker ro-ro-room" Alec stuttered out knowing that he'd barely made any sense in his stuttering and was embarrassed to know that Mr. Starkweather would, more likely than not, ask him to repeat his answer which would just lead to even more stuttering from him. But, as it seemed, the older man had pieced together what he'd said with just a little review over the words Alec had just said in his head, "You had just walked into the locker room? You didn't do anything to provoke any of them?" Hodge asked the shaken up teenager in order to clarify what he was saying.

Alec just shook his head in the negative not trusting he wouldn't stutter out the word "no". A light touch on his aching arm made him look back up to the teacher sitting beside him, "It's alright, Alec. They'll more than likely get expelled as Idris doesn't condone violence towards others" he said giving Alec a small, pitying, smile in return for all the information that the pained boy could give him.

Suddenly, the door opened allowing a Doctor and, much to Alec's distress, Mr. and Mrs. Lightwood into the room both of whom looked like they wanted to spit venom at anyone who dared tried to talk to them, "Get up off that bed, Alexander" hissed Mrs. Lightwood who looked about ready to strike out at her eldest son, but, when Alec went to do as he was told, Hodge put a firm, caring hand on his shoulder in order to push him back down onto the bed.

"I think we should hear what the Doctor has to say before he does anything that could compromise any injuries he has should he move too soon or too quickly" Mr. Starkweather countered back to the couple who turned their sights from Alec to him instead, "I don't think you heard my wife correctly, Mr. Starkweather, we are here to take Alec home so he can be ready for school tomorrow. He isn't allowed to miss one day of school" Robert angrily told the man that was sticking up for his son when many wouldn't have. When he, himself, refuses to.

The Doctor, sensing the growing tension between teacher and parents, decides to cut in so he can tell them all about Alec's condition, "He has bruises over seventy percent of his body, a fractured nose, busted lips, and a couple of fractured ribs. I'd suggest he stays home for a few days to recuperate. Doctor's orders" he informed the three who were still having a standoff in front of him, but his no non-sense attitude put the win in the teacher's corner rather than the parents who looked even more furious than before, but, this time, it was directed at him.

Alec, not wanting them to get even angrier than they already were, took the IV out of his left hand, took the sensors monitoring him off, and then stood up holding his ribs with his left arm. He was a little wobbly, but, that was expected after he'd just woken up from being beaten unconscious. "L-Le-L-Lets ju-j-jus-just g-go ho-h-hom-home" Alec stuttered out as he started to, albeit slowly, make his way to the hospital room door so he can escape the tension between his parents and the teacher claiming to care about him.

"You'll need to sign him out," the Doctor said motioning both of the angry parents out of the room as well leaving Hodge Starkweather to look on after them so angry he couldn't see straight. The man had wanted to plead to the Doctor to keep Alec there overnight so the teen could get some proper rest before he was forced to face the people he, sadly, called his parents, but he knew that wasn't going to happen even if he wanted it too, so, he just sighed in resignation and left the room as well, knowing, that he'd see Alec the next day at school despite his injuries.

~~**~~

It was raining by the time the three Lightwood's left the hospital, and it seemed to help calm Robert and Maryse Lightwood's moods slightly to the point that they just ignored their injured son who was using the right passenger side door to hold himself up so his ribs would ache less.

The dreary outside world seemed to be trying to call him back to sleep but, he knows from experience, that he shouldn't fall asleep in the car least Robert or Maryse need to make a sudden business stop on their way home and they need Alec to look somewhat presentable in front of the people they would be meeting. Alas, the three made it home without an issue, and that made Alec very happy.

The tension in the car was stifling beyond belief, and all he longed for right now was the sanctuary of his bedroom where he could hide away from all that wished to throw more hurt, more anger, and more pain his way; in his bedroom, he was allowed to dream. He was allowed to dream of being an astronaut, a veterinarian, a soldier, or, a firefighter.

All of them being respectable jobs, and all of them not what his parents want him to become. They'd had dreams for him while he was having dreams of his own, but at every twist and turn, he has disappointed them and, well, that was nothing new.

 


	6. 9/8/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Authoress uses a canon scene for shiggles, and so we can understand what Alec wishes life could be.

Like clockwork, despite the immense amount of pain he was currently in, Alec Lightwood made his way to school riding the school bus. His parents could've taken him, but they viewed him as the family disappointment so it was only natural to treat him like the disappointment they saw him as so he was forced to ride the bus along with all of the other kids that were his age who didn't have cars...yet.

Once they were old enough to take their Drivers Test in Sophmore and Junior years, they'd be getting shiny cars with the money their prestigious parents can buy before wrecking them a couple weeks later just to get another brand new car after that.

They were so lucky to have parents that love them, and Alec was, silently, willing to admit he was envious of them all; their parents loved them to the ends of the Earth and back, or, well enough to get them a car for their sixteenth birthdays while Alec would more than likely get another gym membership that he'd never use since he'd rather not make a fool of himself in front of people he knows or doesn't know.

While on the school bus when he wasn't thinking of how lucky his peers are, he puts his head against the glass window in order to stare at the passing scenery while his mind tuned into a world much more different than his own...

_The scene started out in Alec and Magnus' favorite bar called The Hunter's Moon, it was where Downworlders (people of magical and mythical origin) and Shadowhunters (those that slay Demons and the odd too-far-into-their-own-egos Downworlders) go to get away from an overbearing life to loosen up and have fun with good people, good drinks, and some good oldfashioned pool, which, coincidentally, was what both men were currently playing._

_Magnus was dressed in all black with a white, grey, and black silk scarf around his neck under a coat that could be nearly called a trench coat while Alec had a little more color to his wardrobe with wearing brown cargo pants (whoever makes a Deadpool joke will have to face the wrath of an imaginary Alec) who had one pool cue in his hand while Magnus had the other was able to take three shots sinking the exact same number of balls._

_Thinking he could boast a little he says, "See? Just like archery, it's all about the aim, Magnus" as he examines the table in order to see his next best move. "Who knew there could be so many similarities?" Magnus questions as he, patiently, waits for his turn to play against the hazel-eyed Hunter._

_The way Magnus asks the question, to an outside perspective, it sounds as if he'd already known about the similarity - as if Alexander was just rehashing a discussion that he'd already had with someone in his past a very long time ago._

_As Alec lines up his shot and thrusts the stick forward, the cue ball bounces off the number nine stripe ball while making a glancing hit with the number eleven one as well, this time, not sinking one ball into one pocket. Admitting defeat, Alec's little ego boost deflates back to its natural, normal, size while he says, "Can't win 'em all." It was Magnus' turn to play, and Alec had severely underestimated the talented High Warlock, he forgot just how many years the man had, had to practice playing Billards during his long life._

_"Wait, did you do your thing?" Alec asks as he makes a flimsy motion with his right had to indicate that Magnus had somehow used his magic to help him unfairly win. Magnus came back with an ingenious quip though, "Haven't you heard the saying? If you can't find the one being hustled in a pool hall, then it's probably you" as he proceeded to pop the cue ball over the black eight ball expertly sinking the striped thirteen into the side pocket. "Okay?" Magnus asks him as if challenging the archer to play more aggressively with him rather than the lazy way he had been._

_Taking on the challenge from the Warlock, Alec responded, "Okay" a couple more times before saying, "Yeah, let's play" as he got himself ready to really focus on the game rather than the enticing, playful, and coy man standing before him._

A sudden jerk and a knock to Alec's already injured head pulled him from his reverie forcing him to clear up his blurred sight to see what little he could of Idris High standing dauntingly before him. Sighing as the ache in his chest (both mental and physical) crushed him that he couldn't see what happened next in Alec's whirlwind of a life with the charismatic Magnus Bane (yes, he was the teen that inspired the man) he begrudgingly got up from his seat after having made sure that everyone else got off before him in order to prevent any more harm that could come to his injuries.

Pulling up the hood of his jacket, he made his way down the stairs of the bus and into just the second day of an already deplorable Freshman year of high school. Just day two, and he already wanted to drop out just so he could run away to a place where he knew no one and no one knew him.


	7. 9/8/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we see Magnus and Alec actually interact without Alec running away from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I've made the school year concurrent with the current NYC school year which is why the chapters are now going to be dated rather than left blank.
> 
> I've also written out class schedules in order to keep myself in check of where all of the characters will be as they are introduced into the story, or just to know where they will be when they interact with one another.
> 
> Other than those two bits of information, enjoy the newest chapter!

Walking into the building itself was relatively easy, what wasn't however, was the shocked and disturbed looks the teens had on their faces after they saw his two black eyes and the bandages on his nose and lips. He already knew they were speculating what had happened to him, but, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he'd gotten the snot beat out of him.

As he made his way down the Freshman Hallway, he made sure to cover as much of his face and body as he could; he even tilted his head down and looked at the floor to ensure no one got a real clear look at him while he was silently hoping beyond hope that no one even tried to talk to him today.

Yeah, like that was ever going to happen when the magnificent Magnus Bane has come back into his life and seemed to be hellbent on getting Alec's attention despite his own wants of just being left alone. Camille had lost a bit of interest in making his life a living hell, but, Jonathan had just shown a new spotlight on him that he'd rather try to shake before it was too late.

But, as Alec just said, Magnus was hellbent, and so hellbent was he that he actually walked right into Alec's field of vision with his beautiful blue suede oxfords with deep purple trim, gray slacks that looked like they were made to be worn by him only, and a blue button up that was open enough to show a bit of his beautifully toned chest that was just tempting Alec to mark it even though he dared not even try to imagine doing such a thing.

"Oh, my beautiful, beautiful wife, what happened to you?" the ethereal-voiced man asked in a soft, sad tone of voice as he tilted Alec's chin up slightly in order to get a better look at him and the injuries that he'd sustained yesterday.

Alec just gave a half-hearted shrug as his answer not wanting to embarrass himself with an actual stuttered response; showing up injured to school is one thing, stuttering to the most beautiful man that absolutely refused to leave well enough alone is an entirely different issue.

"Tell me who did this to you, and I'll make them pay," Magnus said to him in a tone that promised more than just bruises and busted noses to the people that dared to harm him, but, once more, Alec tried to deflect the statement with a shrug, but he didn't expect Magnus to allow a shrug to be his only answer again.

Shaking Alec's head slightly to make him look at Magnus as best as he could in the eyes, he says, "Answer me, Alexander. I allowed the first shrug to be a sufficient answer, but this time I want to know who thought they could harm my beautiful wife, and get away with it."

His tone held the same anger as he told Alec to answer him, but all Alec wanted to do was just go to the Nurse or Mr. Fell so he can just ignore Magnus and his willingness to defend Alec's honor completely. So many people willing to care for him now of all times is starting to make the hope he thought he'd smothered out yesterday grow into a flickering light.

He couldn't allow it to grow too brightly, but it was. It was making him think that, possibly, there were people out there that liked him for who he was, and not the expectations of who he should be, and that's how he found himself, in the middle of the hallway, stuttering out the names of the boys who'd hurt him yesterday to the elegant teenager who seemed to be the beautiful puppeteer to his marionette.

If Magnus pulled a string just right, he can have Alec telling him things he's never told anyone before, and it frightened him but also made him feel like maybe, just maybe, he could allow himself to let Magnus into his heart before sealing the wall shut again, but he couldn't just yet.

Magnus was bound to be in the popular crowd, and everyone in the popular crowd hated Alec with enough energy to power an A-Bomb which always made him take the brunt of their hurtful words, and he desperately hopes Magnus doesn't turn out like anyone else in his life; doesn't want him turning into another person who wishes to see Alec disappear without a trace.

Magnus, in an unexpected action, presses his forehead to Alec's with a determined look in his eyes, "Everything will be alright, my darling. They will get what they did to you tenfold, I'll make sure of that. What I want you to do right now, however, is to get to Mathematics class then, after that, I'll pick you up in order to walk you to World Geography. If anyone, and I mean anyone, makes fun of you, hurts you any more than you already are, or even glances at you with a hurtful look, I want you to come to me. I will not tolerate my beautiful wife being hurt."

Magnus proclaiming that he would beat up anyone that would want to harm Alec in any way makes him blush and nod his head.

He had never expected for someone to be so kind to him just two days into his Freshman year but, maybe, this year could be a good one. Maybe, with Mr. Fell's help, he could start feeling a little bit better about himself.

But time would only tell if the little flicker of hope inside himself would be allowed to grow, or, to be extinguished just as quickly as it'd been lit.


	8. 9/8/2017

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Admittedly, I forgot today was the day I am supposed to be updating...My life has become busy as of late, but never fear! I will try to keep getting chapters out each and every week! Thank you all for the love and support you're giving this story, and I hope to keep this baby going up until the end!

As he watched Alexander walk towards his first-period class, Magnus was pissed enough to spit venom as he made his way to Earth Science class planning some very lethal ways on killing the five teens that had dared to harm what was his.

That was what Alexander was in his mind, Alexander was his..." property" for lack of a much better word. Alexander was his to hold, his to touch, his to admire, his to bring the greatest of pleasures to, and, most of all, his to see the tears of whenever he'd been hurt by those that dared to touch what wasn't theirs.

It pissed Magnus off to no end that Jonathan Morgenstern, Thomas Mayes, Jose Johnson, Manuel Raskin, and David Bell had all touched his Alexander, they'd touched someone that wasn't theirs to touch and it made him absolutely murderous.

"What's gotten into you?" Lily Chen (Raphael's best friend) asked him as she sat at his table. She could've sat with John Monteverde, Diana Wrayburn, or Bat Velasquez, but, no. Lily Chen decided that his pissed off expression somehow turned him into the literal sun, and she decided to sit beside him now of all times.

"I'd rather not talk about it" he quipped as he opens his book to the first chapter of his textbook hoping to ignore her as he thought of even more ways of mutilating five teenaged boys bodies and getting away with it scott-free.

Lily wasn't having any of it as she looks at him with a knowing look, "I saw you with that kid that got knocked out yesterday, you seem pretty close" she says as if wanting to get Magnus to open up about his relationship with Alexander Lightwood, but, Magnus learned from the best of them on how to be a closed book and stay closed from the people he doesn't care about.

For Alexander, he'd allow the boy to read every word about him until he had his fill of knowing who Magnus is, why he acts how he does, and what makes Magnus tick should Alexander ever anger him by accident. For Lily Chen? He'll write a sentence then when she's not looking, erase it away so he remains a mystery to her. "I don't know what you want me to tell you, but I'll warn you once and once only - stay away from Alexander if you know what's good for you" he growls at her before he gets up, takes his textbook, and then goes to sit beside Diana Wrayburn.

Diana seemed to have an innate understanding of when people need to get distracted away from the thoughts rolling through their head so, like any good possible friend, she starts talking about fashion with him which is one subject he's never been able to turn down talking about.

Though during the time learning about the Nature of Science, Magnus still finds himself wandering off to darker thoughts that include mutilation of certain sensitive parts of five certain teens, he forces himself to think about his Alec and how beautiful his face will look once more after its healed; not to say that a bruised Alexander wasn't absolutely kissable, but, Magnus would rather not cause his wife, even more, pain that he was currently in.

Once the bell rang, his thoughts turned from murderous to happy in the time span of a single second as he thought about picking his favorite person up from class.

If it seemed like he was staking his claim on the absolutely cuddly teenager, that was for him to know and everyone to deal with; as Magnus has been insinuating for the last hour, he will get revenge on anyone who harms him, or, threatens to take his Alexander away from him. Call it an unhealthy obsession all you want to, but he thinks he has a rather healthy outlook on life.

As soon as he made it to the door of Mr. Ap Nudd's classroom, he didn't see Alexander anywhere in immediate sight so he looked into the room to see him slowly putting his notebook and textbook back into his bag as if wanting to avoid the rush of his fellow peers leaving.

"Hello, my darling" Magnus greeted as he walked over to his desk taking a seat on it. Magnus knew from experience that too much weight on the actual desk itself can tip it forward so he didn't put all of his weight on it.

"H-He-Hey" Alec greeted back as he stood up, made to put his bag on his right shoulder, but was intercepted by Magnus who took the heavy bag to put it on his own. The bag was a lot heavier than Magnus had expected, and it concerned him a little that Alec was carrying all that weight on his hurt body, but, he decided not to mention anything about it...yet.

On their way to World Geography, Magnus talked about a few things with Alexander making sure he gave him plenty of time to answer in his cute stutter that Magnus just wanted to record over his phone just to listen to on repeat. He knew, eventually, that Alec would grow out of his stutter but, if he never did, Magnus would always feel happy and content listening to it.

When they made it to the door, Magnus was tempted to walk him all the way to his seat, but he knew he'd be taking it too far too quickly with his Alexander so he satisfied himself with placing a kiss on Alexander's uninjured cheek just to get that lovely rose red blush to appear on his cheeks.

Oh, if only he could find paint the exact same shade as it, his bedroom walls would be that color. The color that would pull him into thoughts of his beautiful wife's constant blush - it was an image he would never soon let go.

"I'll see you later, love," Magnus tells him pulling away. Dropping Alexander's bag against him so he barely has to bend down to get it, Magnus walked away towards the Gym hoping he will finally be able to pay better attention in this class than his last one.


	9. 9/8/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Alec can't distract himself from Magnus until Diana forces him to, and then his dark mood returns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I, literally, just got finished writing this. I've started work yesterday so I'll be lucky to get these chapters ironed out like they usually are, but I'll keep chugging along as much as I can.

As Magnus walked away from him, he couldn't contain the blush that spread over his cheeks from the kiss Magnus had just given him. How was he supposed to keep pushing him away when all Alec could do was think about how kind he was being to him?

Alec was fat (read: cuddly), he has a stuttering problem that takes him a whole five minutes just to get out four simple words, he has zero self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-acceptance that ends with him denying his own sexuality despite knowing that a majority of the world didn't care, and yet, this teenage boy that could rule the entirety of the school, wanted to be around him.

In what world did he do something so great that he has this handsome teen looking at him like he hung the moon in the sky? Seriously, what other Alexander Lightwood or whatever his name is, did something profound enough that Magnus Bane (the hottest guy ever) turn his eyes towards him?

Alec's thoughts of wonder and amazement kept him distracted throughout the class, once more, as Mr. Rodriguez attempted to teach them about how Geographers look at the world around them, but Alec was only getting bits and pieces of what he was talking about as he doodled on his notebook like some kind of love-sick teenaged girl.

The sad part? He was kind of feeling that way with every aborted attempted his left hand made when it went to write Magnus' name in the margin of the paper. Even right now, thirty minutes into class, he was blushing from the kiss Magnus had given him on his cheek; it would seem this blush would stubbornly refuse to budge until it damn well felt like going away.

Not his fault that Magnus was so dazzling.

"Psst!" come from somewhere beside him, but Alec acted like he didn't hear them as he kept his hand from doodling Magnus' name on his paper...again. It seems the battle would be a constant one this period, but the person's "psst"'s started to bother him so he looked over to them to see what they wanted.

It was Diana Wrayburn, aka, the Gossip Queen. If she wasn't distracting you from something you don't want to think about, she was usually making you, think, about it instead. She was that cobra in the grass that had the colors of a nice, non-poisonous snake, but she was vicious when it came to something she wanted to know and she'd sink her venomous fangs into you just to find out what it is.

"Wh-What?" Alec asked her viciously looking like he was wanting to strangle her now that his thoughts were successfully deterred away from the kiss on his cheek that Magnus had placed there.

Make no mistake, Alec had a short fuse when it came to being pulled away from something he didn't exactly want to be distracted from. As soon as his thoughts are pulled away, he wanted nothing more than for you to disappear in that exact instance so he can go back to thinking about his previous thought.

"Is it true that Jonathan knocked you out yesterday?" she asked him looking as intrigued as she can be on what his answer will be.

"Look at his face, Dia, it's obvious" Maia Roberts half-assed gesturing to his face like it was the most obvious thing in the world that, yes, Jonathan Morgenstern knocked him out before PE even started yesterday.

"The hell you doing back in school? I would've taken a couple days off to just be jello in my bed" Diana commented like she was somewhat concerned about his current state of person while also thinking about ditching school in the process.

Alec, not understand why they were talking to him in the first place, went back to minding his own business while they started whispering to each other about various injuries they could get away with allowing them to stay home for a day or more from school.

They didn't get how lucky they were when it came to doing just that - playing hooky from school for a day. They had parents that, actually, cared about them while Maryse and Robert wished he would live up to the impossible standards of their ideal first son.

Jace was living up to them easily, and Izzy was right there with him, but Alexander saw so many levels of a complex game that it was impossible for him to reach the final boss in the game just to achieve the "I'm Proud of You Son" achievement.

After all, he was just as he'd said earlier - he had so many problems with himself that they were mountains.

How was he supposed to climb one mountain just to get to the next with no idea on how to even place his feet and hands right just to start climbing?

At that moment in time, Alec's mood took a nose dive from where it had been. Alec's mood was sour enough to not even be affected by thoughts of the great Magnus Bane either.

As the bell rang, he went back to his old habits, he avoided the most beautiful person in the school, he weaved through the crowds effortlessly, and he escaped away from Camille when she wanted to sink her claws into him.

He just wanted to be left alone, and going into the back of the school under the bleachers seemed like a good thing to do so he could get some fresh air, avoid the class that he was knocked out in yesterday, and generally get the time alone he needed.


	10. 9/8/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we see both of our favorite people explode, and a surprise happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally started writing this down on paper yesterday while working so I hope you guys like it! -Crosses everything with hope.-
> 
> Edit: Just some light editing done by Grammarly.

It seems that every step forward Magnus takes with his precious Alexander, the teen forces him two steps backward by some unseen force that is keeping him just out of Magnus' reach; comparatively it's just like the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel of man trying to touch God - they're both so close yet so far.

"What's eating you?" Lydia asks as she takes the seat beside him. Placing her books down on her desk, she turns to give him her full attention until class started.

"Ah," Magnus says as he rubs the back of his neck tiredly, "It's Alexander, he's avoiding me again" he admits to her wanting to talk to at least someone about his problematic relationship with his beloved.

"Isn't that the guy who got knocked out in gym class yesterday?" Lydia asks him not at all aware that she was inadvertently insulting Alec in front of Magnus, but she did so Magnus was going to immediately confront her about it.

"Is that really all anyone sees him as? Some pathetic teenager who got knocked out just because he couldn't beat up five guys who are stronger than him? Well, fuck you, Lydia, and everyone else that sees my wife as no more than a verbal and physical punching bag" Magnus rages before grabbing his backpack and walking towards the door.

"Mr. Bane, where are you going?" Mr. Rodriguez asks him.

"Away from here" Magnus snaps at him as he forces the door open, walks through it, then slams it shut behind himself.

Making his way down the Freshman Hallway, all Magnus could think about was just how poorly his beloved was received by all of his peers. Magnus knows that Alexander didn't have any friends, but that didn't mean people would look down on him, or look down on him enough to refer to him as "the kid that got knocked out in gym class". It was like Lydia didn't even know his name - only the actions that made him be known around the school.

It pissed Magnus off something fierce and, as he was walking by the gymnasium, he tried to catch a glimpse of his beloved, but he wasn't on the bleachers nor was he walking the perimeter of the basketball court like everybody else was which turned some of his anger into worry. Magnus hoped beyond a shadow of a doubt that Alexander wasn't knocked out again in the Locker Room but, if he had been, Mr. Starkweather would've sounded the alarm like he did yesterday so that couldn't be it at all.

Where was he? Looking through the mass of students again, Magnus didn't see hide or hair of his love which left him the only option that he could do in hopes of preventing him either from doing something stupid or, someone else finding him and hurting him even more than the five teens from yesterday did.

It took Magnus over forty-five minutes to find him huddled under the bleachers outside the school building right beside the football field. "Didn't think I'd find you" Magnus says in lieu of a greeting to his Alexander.

Alexander's head shot up so fast that he gave himself a bit of whiplash from what Magnus was able to see as he looked at him, "H-Ho-How di-di-did yo-yu-you fi-fie-find me-me?" Alexander asked making Magnus' head tilt as he thought of how cute the stutter coming from Alexander's lips is.

"Admittedly, I looked all over the school for you before coming out here," Magnus tells him opting out of telling the teen how worried he'd been we he hadn't seen his love in the gym. "Why're you out here by yourself?" he asked him looking down to the teen while leaning against one of the support beams of the bleachers.

"W-W-Wh-Why di-did yo-y-you c-co-com-come ou-out he-h-h-here l-lo-loo-look-look-looking f-fo-f-for m-me-me?" Alexander asked him back looking up at him with his innocent hazel eyes.

Gods, if there wasn't such a beautiful person in this world Magnus would've been wandering around in a colorless world. "Because you're my wife" Magnus answers him thinking the answer should've been a simple one for Alexander to answer himself. Magnus hadn't shied away from letting his precious one know what he felt for him.

This answer, however, seems to irk Alexander whose eyebrows furrow in anger, "St-St-Stop te-tease-teasing m-me" he demands as his stutter seems to loosen up a little bit which intrigues Magnus as stress and heightened emotions usually worsen a persons stuttering - not helping to try and stop it.

"I'm not teasing you, Alexander. How can I tease someone that I love?" Magnus asks him looking unapologetic in the way his words were affecting Alexander.

"St-Stop it!" Alexander shouted at him as he stood up to his full 5'11 height looking like he really wanted to fight Magnus just because Magnus was telling him his feelings in such a plain, romantic way that, like usual, makes people not believe him when he told them of his affections.

"Every word is true, Alexander, I would never lie to you. I have loved you since we were children, and I will always love you even if you reject my feelings" Magnus tells him as he walks closer to the teen forcing him to get angrier with each word and step.

"St-Stop lying! Wh-Why would someone like you still give a shit about me? N-Nobody have ever given a shit about me! I-I have a st-stuttering problem that refuses to go away even though I try my damnedest over a-and over again to make it go away, b-but it never does and I'm tired of it, Magnus! I-I'm tired of people teasing me day in and day out just because I'm fat, because I'm u-ugly, because of my st-stuttering problem, and because I never get any peace anywhere I go! E-Even at home, I'm unwanted! I am wanted nowhere!" Alexander shouts at Magnus who reacts to his words with pulling him into a fierce hug that Alexander tries to fight out of.

"You're not fat, you're not ugly, your stuttering isn't a problem, but an endearing quality that makes you, you, and don't you ever dare say that you're unwanted, because, Alexander, I want you. I want you so fiercely that it terrifies me sometimes. You are a beacon of light in the dark, you're my moon in the night, you're my sun in the mid-morning Spring, you are my everything and don't you dare forget that" Magnus tells him with just as much fierceness as his hug.

Jerking Alexander's head up just that little bit allows him enough room to give into his wants and needs as he slams his lips onto Alexander's own causing his beloved's split lip to reopen, but he didn't care as Alexander finally stops struggling against him, and gives into whatever little piece of himself that has been yearning for Magnus' touch. They stood there for several long minutes savoring the flavor of mixed blood and soft, supple, skin being constantly pressed against each other.

The tight grip that Alexander had on the back of his shirt was a good indicator to Magnus that his most valued love was affected just as much, or more than he himself was. Magnus has wanted to taste Alexander's lips since he first set eyes on him yesterday in the hallway. Gods, it was like a bomb or explosion went off in his heart when he saw how grown up his little love had become, and he wasn't little anymore by any means.

Oh, if Aphrodite was real, she had picked the most perfect person for him, and he will gladly thank her each and every time he got to have his Alexander in his arms.

Pulling back from the kiss as he grew the need to breathe, his ragged breath showed just how into the kiss he had gotten while Alexander's own showed that he'd been just as enamored with the act as Magnus had been. "Don't ever say you aren't wanted, because I want you now and always" Magnus told him in a whispered tone of voice as he pushed their foreheads together.

Alexander's only ability to respond was to nod his head as he looked straight into Magnus' eyes; those innocent eyes looked as if they were clouded in uncertainty but also understanding. His love was still uncertain about a lot of things with Magnus, but, he seemed to know that Magnus was telling the truth, and that was all that mattered to Magnus.


	11. 9/8/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Authoress says this, IT'S SO FLUFFY!!!

Shocked and stunned were two words that just didn't quite measure up to how unsettled Alec felt from the first touch of Magnus' lips on his own but the next set of emotions that welled up within his body rooted his feet to the ground as his entire being went on auto-pilot. His eyelids shut before his lips started following the movements of Magnus' lips.

If Alec could name all of the feelings threatening to burst from each and every one of his pores, he'd be naming them for hours while trying to decipher the deeper meaning behind them like the absolutely blissful feeling singing through his veins with each careful brush of the lips against his, the contentment that was lulling him into a haze where time had no meaning, and the...the...love that he's never experienced with anyone other than the only memory of Magnus that he's always cherished.

When Magnus pulls back and says he wants him now and always, it makes him uncertain about many things pertaining to the teenager before him, but the overwhelming happiness rocketing past the other emotions within him starts making him cry from how much of it he was feeling as the smile on his face stretches farther than it has in years.

It was so overwhelming he even started laughing even though his lips, nose, eyes, and ribs hurt from the action, but he couldn't help it nor stop it because his thoughts had been dark for so long that feeling an overabundance of positive emotions was sending him into a panic attack.

Magnus seems to sense this so he moves around to the back of Alec in order to bring the both of them to the ground wherein Magnus brings Alec to his chest so he could help calm him down and help him breathe.

It takes them a good seven minutes to get Alec's breathing back under control with him leaning against Magnus' chest, but when they did, the contentment Alec had felt during the kiss came back to him as he crossed his arms over Magnus' own where they held him around his waist.

"You're so perfect, and don't let anyone try to tell you, you're not because they'd be lying. I don't want to hear you say anything hurtful about yourself ever again because when you're hurting I'm hurting and I don't like it when you're hurting" Magnus mumbles to the side of his temple before placing a soft kiss on it which in turn made Alec close his eyes. The sheer hazy lull that he was experiencing nearly made him fall asleep right there even though he knew he shouldn't.

Magnus was showing him at every twist and turn that he loves Alec despite being reunited just yesterday, but Alec was still unsure of how he truly feels for Magnus. He knows that, once he figures out his own feelings, he'll be able to either live happily with this gorgeous teenager that seems to read him like a book, or, give him the ability to find similar qualities in a partner in the future because Magnus seems to have all the makings of a good long-term partner and husband.

As the bell for the end of Third Period rang, Alec found himself reluctant to move out of Magnus' comforting embrace.

Feeling Magnus' head dip down in order to whisper into his ear, he hears him say, "We should get up, skipping one class is okay at the beginning of the year, but two is pushing it. I don't want my Alexander falling behind."

In that instance, Alec wanted nothing more than to make a Dad joke, but he didn't for the sake of wanting something far better from the teen behind him that he felt well within his rights of asking him for, "I-I w-wa-want a ki-k-kiss" he stuttered out feeling a little more confident in talking to Magnus.

The light laughter the feels vibrating from the chest behind him makes him blush as he feels the happiness shoot through him once more only not enough to send him into another fit.

Magnus carefully turned Alec's head to the left side before he tilted his own head down just slightly to mee Alec's own, and when the lips touched? It was magical...for all of a few seconds until the stinging in Alec's bottom lip makes itself known.

Pulling away from the lips that were quickly becoming his drug of choice, Alec brought the middle finger of his right hand up to check his lip only to pull it back to find it covered in blood.

"Damn, I'm sorry, love," Magnus says as he sees and tastes the blood that had been spread upon his own lips in his hurry to kiss Alec earlier. It must've been adrenaline that caused Alec not to feel the initial pain of his lip resplitting, and the contentment had dulled it down to a manageable level up until now.

"It-I-It's al-alright," Alec told him as he brought the sleeve of his jacker up to his lip in order to staunch the flow of blood. He figured he should go to the Nurses Office and, upon telling Magnus of his plan, Magnus agreed that he'd go with him to make sure he actually got there.

It was...nice...to be able to call Magnus his friend and possible love interest because there wasn't just a flickering of hope growing anymore, no, it was like an undying fire that just dared anyone to try and extinguish it. It felt like Alec was being reborn in the ashes of someone else's life...like a Phoenix was being reborn from the ashes of a previous life it had lived.

As the both of them reached the Nurses Office, Alec felt like the world was lighting up for the first time in a very long time, and it felt so good to see everything in the light like it was supposed to be and not in the shadows like it had been.

He felt right, he felt whole, he felt like he could conquer the demons that have been plaguing him for so long. He knew, with one step at a time, he could better himself for himself. He could do it if he has Magnus by his side as a friend and, maybe, a boyfriend.

Alec's drifting thoughts were pulled back when Magnus says he'll see him later before placing a kiss on his cheek which made Alec smile a soft smile to prevent from hurting his lip any further.

Yeah, life was looking up. One step at a time, he decides, that he'll change his stars for himself, and only himself.


	12. 9/8/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Magnus has no control over his teenaged libido.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Admittedly, this chapter nearly didn't come out due to stress from working and the holiday, but, I got it out on time! Yay me!

His mind was buzzing with countless thoughts rolling through his head each one featuring one particular person who has sunk ever so deeper into his heart with each smile or blush that Magnus was able to bring forth from the slightly taller teen that has become his most addicting drug he's ever gotten to taste.

None of Magnus' memories from his childhood musings has compared to the actual feel of Alexander's lips pressed against his own; the teen's lips had been soft, inexperienced, but willing to learn anything Magnus was willing to teach them.

And Magnus had so much to teach them after his long years of being in Los Angeles, but, even as experienced Magnus was at kissing, he was still inexperienced in the realm of holding someone to close to him that they both were like puzzle pieces and, he hoped, his Alexander would be the person that he could experience that first breathe of life with.

Right now, however, Magnus is on a mission. The mission? To find the worst secrets that the five boys that beat his love to a bloody pulp have, and he won't stop until he has the worst of the worst.

After all, his biological father taught him the cunning art of deception in order to convince a person that he liked them, he loved them, and then, when commitment came calling, he left them without a hint of where he had gone nor why he left in the first place.

He's just started building the cons he's started with Camille Belcourt, Jonathan Morgenstern, and Raphael Santiago since just yesterday - he'll be enjoying the long con with all three of his chosen targets until it's time to cut the strings that he's strung around them, but, he figures, that Raphael Santiago will take a lot more convincing than Camille and Jonathan will since the Hispanic teen seems to be able to look through anything that is false in nature.

No wonder he's barely glanced Magnus' way ever since he'd made it his mission to get into the tan-skinned teenagers good graces, and Magnus can appreciate someone who was very close to his level. It gave Magnus a challenge, and maybe, a way to destroy his two main targets that much easier.

If he can convince Raphael to abandon Camille, the structure supporting the two popular teens will slowly start to crumble right from under their very feet which will leave a gap in the social hierarchy that Magnus could start filling with those of his own peers that he feels are more worthy to be called "popular". He'll just have to bide his time until he feels it's the time to execute his plans.

For now, however, he has to get to Mathematics before he's late; his Mother would rip him a new one if he was absent for more than one class in his Freshman year of high school, and he'd rather not have her disappointed expression being pointed in his general direction.

Once he entered the classroom, the bell rang which made him give a sigh of relief that he'd nearly been late. Making his way over to a seat beside Maia Roberts, he pulls his textbook out and flips it to the first chapter before the teacher even prompts them too.

While looking around the classroom, and just giving the teacher, Mr. Nudd, half an ear to acknowledge him with, his eyes landed on Simon Lewis. The guy was dressed in so much geek chic that he was nearly an eyesore to look at, but Magnus has been hearing rumors that Simon's had a crush on Raphael since grade school.

Oh, how teenagers were willing to talk about others when it didn't involve them - it was sad and pathetic really, but Magnus might just have an in with Raphael after all though he wasn't going to be acting on it anytime soon as he had more important things to worry about.

Like the kid sitting two seats in front of him named David Bell.

David Bell was reportedly the Freshman's version of Jackson Whittemore from Teen Wolf. He was confident, cocky, thought he was so popular that he was virtually untouchable, and drove a Porsche just to make up for his own insecurities.

It was Magnus' main goal to find out all of his secrets just to use one against him because, really, nothing is ever kept a secret for long despite how much you hoard it away from everyone, how much you bury it deep down, and how much you try to forget it even exists.

Teenagers are vicious creatures, and they'll tear anyone down that gets in their way of getting to the top of the social hierarchy.

For Magnus, however, he doesn't want to ascend high school society on the backs of those people that have such little secrets like a football player making out with a nerd or getting drunk to the point they will go streaking.

One thing Asmodeus Bane taught his son before he left was that to deceive someone, you must project an aura of confidence while keeping yourself completely untouchable; to have your own secrets brought to light will end up having your weakest point shone to the light, and you just couldn't have that happen.

It was the main reason why Magnus was making his relationship with Alexander so open in the early days of their high school careers - he was saving Alexander from being perceived as Magnus' weakest point when, in reality, Magnus didn't have any secrets nor weak points to hide.

Alexander was his weakest and strongest point so no one could touch him just to get to Magnus and, Magnus knew, that should someone lay a hand on his Alexander he'd end up making them regret it just like he was planning to do to David Bell when he finds the teens weakest point.

There was rumored to be a "Beginning of the Year" party at David's house this weekend, and everyone was invited. Magnus would've brought his precious Alexander with him, but Magnus wouldn't be able to concentrate on his target if he did; Magnus would've been too distracted trying to get Alexander to make pleasurable noises as he started their journey to experiencing a pleasure far beyond what kissing can do.

Alas, as Magnus stood up from his seat as the bell for second Lunch to begin, he couldn't help thinking over what kind of noises Alexander would make as he thrust into his body over and over again. Would he moan wantonly? Would he beg for Magnus to go faster? Harder? Would he whimper in need?

The luscious shiver that rolled down Magnus' spine made his cock become hard just daydreaming about Alexander stretched out under him in all of his cuddly glory, his stomach sinking in just enough to show his ribs that were caressed with a layer of protective skin that showed that, though neglected by his family, he wasn't left starving himself to death.

The hips that teased that at what kind of teen was behind the shell of a body he allows himself to wear, but, the main attraction was the chunky ass that just screamed at Magnus to bite into it, to caress it, and to fuck it just to make it bounce back at him in a constant slapping sound that'd fill the room.

Magnus' cock was hardening just thinking of Alexander naked and writhing under him in the constant state of pleasure that Magnus wants to put him into; a state where nothing else mattered but the drag of Magnus' cock going in and out of him. Like those Alpha/Beta/Omega stories that teenagers and older people like to write about, an entire week of nothing but sex between two people who love, tolerate, or like each other.

Magnus would do that for Alexander, and if his love somehow got pregnant, he'd love the babies that his most precious produced because that'd mean they be of Magnus and Alexander's blood, and nothing would be able to stop Magnus from protecting them.

Magnus, while walking towards the Lunchroom, kept walking until he passed it and made his way down to the boy's bathroom where he took the very last stall available bypassing a couple of older teens using one of the urinals and washing their hands.

After both of the older teens left, Magnus unbuttoned and unzipped his pants in order to get to the raging red flesh between his legs. Pulling his shirt up out of his pants, he unbuttoned it all the way then lifted up his undershirt as he started jerking on the heated flesh which made his back bow from the unexpected flash of heat that ran through his entire body as he started stroking himself in fast-paced strokes making sure to twist his wrist just right to cause himself to pant in ragged breaths.

All his mind could picture while he was jerking himself off was of Alexander spread out under him like an open buffet just waiting to be eaten, absorbed, and then left wrecked with nothing but bits and pieces of skin still showing his natural light-tanned skin.

Magnus pictured Alexander's neck being littered with three giant bruises that'd state just how possessive his lover was to the boy while the rest of him was just as littered with the love bites that Magnus was starting to become so desperate in littering upon him, but he couldn't yet.

Alexander wasn't ready, and he wouldn't be for a while; the images, though, had Alexander looking fucked out and wrecked to the point that his body wouldn't be able to do anything, but respond in pleasure to Magnus' continued menstruations upon his body.

As Magnus' orgasm kept building and building within his body, he imagined making Alexander pass out from all the pleasure that was coursing through his body to the very second where his body had enough of Magnus constantly giving it the one thing it wanted and yet, wanted to run away from after becoming oversensitive.

With a choked moan, Magnus came all over his stomach as his body shivered and shuddered making him push his head back into the brick wall. Usually, just after an orgasm, Magnus would be bashing his head into his pillow, but he wasn't willing to risk knocking himself out in the state he was in at school. He couldn't even feel his legs with just how powerful his orgasm was when it came to picturing Alexander in the state he wanted him.

As he came down from his high, he did know one thing, come hell or high water, Magnus would give his love just what he'd pictured and more. He'd have him passing out from the pleasure Magnus would give him, and then for six days after that, he'd continue until Alexander knew just how much Magnus found him completely and utterly fuckable.


	13. 9/8/17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we see a couple of new characters that enter into Alec's life while an angelic figure makes a brief appearance after Alec's heart is broken once again.

As Alec walked into the Nurses Office twice in two days, he still felt like he was walking on Cloud Nine as Ms. Loss ushered him to the bed, "What happened now, Alec? Well, besides the obvious" she asked as she looked at him with a no-nonsense look on her face.

The first time he'd seen the Nurse, he dreaded she'd just slap a bandage on the sides of his hands before ushering him out the door like her predecessors through his earlier school years had, but this woman had taken one look at the sides of his hands then immediately started to scowled him like an unruly child saying that there is never a reason to hurt yourself and, should she see hide or hair of him for the new two weeks she'll give him a real reason to hurt.

Too bad the guys from yesterday got to him before she did.

"I-I-I re-r-re-reop-opened m-m-my sp-sp-spli-split l-li-lip" Alec stuttered out to the Nurse whose expression immediately morphed into a peeved one as she heard what Alec said to her.

"And do I want to know exactly, how, you re-opened your lip?" she asked him sounding angrier than she'd just beed which was making Alec want to flinch away from her - scared she'd hurt him.

Seeming to see his reaction to her angry expression, she quickly goes from angry to concerned in under a second which makes Alec feel better in knowing she wasn't actually angry, she was more peeved that he must've done something to re-open the wound.

Take a deep breath, she looked at him saying, "Alright big guy, let's get this lip taken care of so you can get to Fourth Period" Miss. Loss said in a more light-hearted tone as Alec's nervousness dissipated back into a feeling of calm and unrequited happiness.

Taking the sleeve of his jacket away from his lip, she was able to take in the way his lips were slightly puffy as if he, or someone else, had been biting on them; she wasn't at all surprised by this development as the rumors she's heard about Magnus Bane (the newest popular kid in Idris High) seemed to be showing an automatic preference to being in Alec's company despite also socializing with Camille Belcourt and her group of fiends.

Catarina could only hope the newest addition the school wasn't just using this sweet kid in order to hurt him when the novelty of being with the one kid nobody likes wore off.

As she dabbed at his split lip with some gauze, she felt the need to let Alec know that, should something happen that completely breaks him, that she'll be there to comfort him. Catarina may be the school Nurse, and she might have a preference in who her patients are, but she cares for all of the teens that walk through her door.

Alec Lightwood was quickly endearing himself to her and she didn't want this kind, sweet kid to be hurt anymore in situations he couldn't control.

Once he was all patched up, Miss Loss ushered him out of the room with a small smile, and a green apple flavored sucker.

Alec happily took the wrapping off it, and immediately popped it into his mouth as he made his way as slowly as he dared to the Lunchroom so he could eat with the Second Lunch kids as First Lunch had already ended while he was in the Nurses Office.

Each Lunch session lasted thirty minutes so each teen had enough time to eat between thirty minutes of class.

Walking into the room, Alec's head felt like he wasn't even really thinking of anything past hoping Magnus had Second Lunch, if he could sit with him, and then the happiness that was still vibrating through him as his mind kept rewinding back to the kiss they'd shared outside.

Looking around with what must've looked like an innocent expression on his face, his eyes zeroed in on the very familiar hairstyle that gave Magnus away in any room; the dark brown strands were dyed a bleach blonde on his bangs just to give him a little flare which, as Alec stood there admiring him, worked very well for the teen now that Alec really thought about it.

Rolling the sucker into his cheek, he went to go see what they were serving for Lunch and, after seeing something that was supposed to resemble Salsbury Steak, he promptly decided that eating grass would be more appetizing than that so he just grabbed a couple cartons of milk, Reese's ice cream bar, and then made his way to check out with his items.

Standing in nearly the same spot he was when he was looking for Magnus, Alec contemplated if he should walk over to him even though Magnus hadn't really said to him in the way of being able to be with him around his friends.

He decided, with no help from the side of his brain still afraid of what everyone and the part that views himself as a waste of space, that he'd rather sit by himself rather than run the risk of incurring Magnus' wrath by being seen asking him he could sit with him.

Alec may be acting like (ignoring) his inner issues aren't currently affecting him, but he still has them despite how much his life has started taking an about face in the last two days.

Usually, Robert and Maryse would've bitched about him to his face, but for two days straight they've just flat out ignored him except for the time he'd spent in the hospital after he'd been knocked out. Them acting like he was invisible was a reprieve to the constant disdain they'd throw his way, but on the opposite of that...it made Alec feel like no one could see him anymore.

As Alec's thoughts darkened, he started contemplating once more avoiding Magnus at all costs because just look at him. Alec keeps thinking it over and over again to the point it was a running record in his head that Magnus was so perfect and deserved someone who wasn't him - wasn't someone who wasn't worthy of being looked at, of being kissed so tenderly, and just wasn't him.

Wasn't Alec.

Suddenly, and very abruptly, Alec jerked out of his seat as his thoughts kept consuming him to the point he didn't even hear the heavenly voice saying, "Alexander?" before he was launching himself out of the Lunchroom through the doors that led to the patioed area for when it was warm enough to enjoy a breeze or the sun.

Bypassing that, and still not hearing the frantic calls of his name, he launched himself off the steps straining his fractured ribs but the adrenaline coursing through his system dulled the pain to the point Alec didn't even notice it as he quickly ran off of campus nearly sliding into the busy street that Idris was sitting on the side of.

As he ran down the sidewalk, he could barely breathe through the tears streaming down his face as his own thoughts constantly attacked him about how ugly he was, how much of a freak he was, and how he'll never be able to look into those caring golden green eyes ever again because he didn't deserve too.

He wasn't as beautiful as Magnus was and he never will be.

As his sneakers pounded into the concrete, his heart broke with each step he took as his mind forced away the happiness that had been coursing through his body ever since Magnus had found, ever since he kissed him, and ever since he thought that hope for something greater was actually within his reach but it'd all been a fluke; a thought so prettily wrapped that Alec had that it'd actually been for him, but it wasn't. It wasn't and Alec had to face the consequences of hoping it had been.

As the fire of hope, for a potential friend, and a potential love died within him, he banged through the double doors of a church he didn't know the name of and proceeded to sink to his knees as he cried, sobbed, and heavily breathed in rasping breaths as his body shook from the adrenaline still coursing through it.

Alec must've fallen asleep after a few minutes of crying on the floor, as he never noticed the man standing over him looking at him in such a heartbreaking sadness as if he'd heard Alec's sobs and came to check on him.

The man, dressed in the robes of a Silent Brother, picked him up and sadly said to his sleeping form, "It's alright my son, Raziel will help mend your broken heart, you'll see" he then placed Alec's form down on a bed that was covered in green.

"The green will help aide Raziel in the mending, and you'll be able to feel happiness once again. In due time all wounds heal, some will just take more time than others" the Silent Brother said as he smoothed down the covers he'd laid over Alec after removing his jacket and shoes.

The nameless Silent Brother eventually left Alec to rest and heal as a stain glass picture of an angel looked down at him with a calm expression as Alec basked in the sunlight streaming through the glass.


	14. 9/8/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Magnus has a realization, and we see two background characters get close.

"Alexander!" Magnus shouted at the figure of the teen he loves as he increasingly gets farther and farther away from him and Idris. Magnus was left standing there wondering why Alexander ran away from him instead of turning around when Magnus had called after him.

It was like the giant step forward the two had just taken opened up a hole right beneath them just to pull a move from Snakes and Ladders depositing them farther away from the top they'd been trying to make it too. Magnus thought he'd gotten through to his Alexander, but by the way, his love had run away from him, it seems he hadn't.

The flash of utter despair held within those muddy green depths told Magnus all he needed to know, Alexander was dealing with more than the negativity of his peers, but, Magnus knew, his classmates had helped it along.

"Well, it seems I'm not the only one that can make the fat freak cry" came the most grating of voices that Magnus has ever had the displeasure of hearing in his entire life, and that voice, unfortunately, belong to the brown and blonde-haired Queen Bee of the Freshmen herself, Camille Belcourt.

The young girl was like a shadow that refused to leave him alone when he wasn't actively avoiding her like the plague.

Her hair was ridiculous, the bleach blonde chunks in her brown hair did nothing but wash out the obvious fake tan she thought looked good on her, and don't get Magnus started on her makeup she looks like she just walked off the set of Bride of Frankenstein.

"So it may seem" Magnus snapped at her coldly before he turned away from the patio, making sure to give Camille a wide berth, in order to return to the lunch table he'd been sitting at.

Sitting back down in front of Raphael, the talk of the table turned from the party happening this weekend too, surprisingly, his current favorite topic: Alexander. Only, as Jonathan Morgenstern opens his bile-filled mouth, nothing about how beautiful, how sweet, how kind the dark-haired teen is poured from his chapped lips, no, this is the talk of someone who'd bullied his beloved for years and liked it.

"Did you see how fast Chubby ran away from you, Magnus? He just knew you were about to tell him how he should just go and kill himself already!"

The look of pure, unadulterated joy on Jonathan's face made Magnus violently sick to his stomach, but, also, made him want to through the football-hopeful through the plateglass window behind him just so he could see the boy bleed to death.

"Hey! Don't say things like that! Maybe Magnus was going over to talk to him about school work or something!" came the voice of one Simon Lewis who seems angry and disturbed by what Jonathan just said about Magnus' possible actions.

From across the table, the normally bored look on Raphael's face morphed into one that Magnus, no doubt, wore on his own when the boy he's interested in was around.

It seems Raphael has taken some interest in the glasses wearing teen, and that made Magnus' plan to get Raphael away from Camille the start of her downfall, but first, he needed to worry about Alexander.

"Yeah? And how would you know what he was going to say, four eyes?" Jonathan spat at him like he just wasn't, himself, saying what Magnus intended to do.

"Because, you hypocrite, Magnus is the only person who knew what he was going to say to Alec, and quite honestly, I'm tired of hearing bad things about him from the bile seeping out of your mouth. How about you take whatever brain cells you have left, and use them to learn some civility rather than trash talking people who are better than you."

Just as soon as he was talking, Simon turned away from them in order to go sit with his friends at another table leaving the entire table Magnus was sitting at in a stunned silence.

The first person to do anything was Raphael, who, got up and walked towards the table Simon was sitting at.

The reaction to him sitting on Simon's left made the corner of Magnus' lips curl up slightly when the boy jumped and looked like a deer-in-headlights. It seems he wouldn't have to do anything on the Raphael end at all; Simon Lewis had just painted himself as interesting to the Hispanic teen, and, Magnus had no doubts about it, that the more Raphael got to know him, the more Raphael will pull away from Camille's crushing gaze.

Finally, Jonathan Morgenstern snapped out of his stunned silence just to say, "The fuck that nerd think he is talking to me like that?"

"Someone who had a moment's worth of courage to stand up to a person he deemed wasn't being fair" Magnus automatically answered before the Lunch bell rang signaling their time together was over.

Simon's interjection, no matter how unexpected it was, was appreciated by Magnus as it showed other people, besides himself, seem to have been effected by what happened to Alexander despite not even really knowing his beloved.

Come to think of it, what did Magnus really know of his love? What endeared his precious Alexander to him that didn't include one entire year of Pre-school? Over the years, Magnus made up things about his wife that, now being in his presence, hadn't been what he thought the teen would be at all.

He was still as beautiful as ever, Magnus won't doubt that, but he wasn't the confident, cool, strong, and social butterfly Magnus had imagined him to be, no, he was a lonely, scared, hurt, and scarred soul that has taken beating after beating throughout the years with no reprieve.

The only one who seemed interested to be in Alexander's company was Magnus, and it made Magnus sad as, every step Magnus took towards his classroom, was another step that made him question what he knew about this broken boy he'd been chasing after for the last two days.

Nine whole years have passed since they'd been kids where Magnus had declared the hazel-eyed little boy as his wife, and the nine years apart have turned Magnus into the social butterfly that happily talks to anyone and everyone while, for Alexander, he built a cocoon around himself and hasn't had the chance to change into something beautiful yet.

Magnus remembered when they were little that Alexander shined with a love so great, that he'd just had to call him Magnus' own; Magnus had selfishly hogged that shining beacon to himself stubbornly refusing to let it go until he was forced to by his parents.

Now, that beacon of love was nowhere to be seen in the eyes of his love, and that hurt Magnus to know that the Alexander he once knew and loved seems to have vanished into a boy who, in all due speculation on Magnus' part, doesn't know what love is nor how to properly handle it when it's given to him.

Magnus' case and point being earlier when he'd kissed his precious one, and it resulted in Alexander going into a panic attack.

As Magnus sat at his desk, once again not paying attention to his teacher, he reviewed over his memories of the last two days and, as he does, he sees Alexander mostly trying to avoid him as if he was scared of the emotions Magnus was trying to gift to him; like he didn't want anything to do with the positive emotions Magnus was feeling towards him.

Alexander seems to only understand the negative actions and emotions in his life now rather than the simple kindness of someone who loves him for him.

All Magnus has heard around himself for the last two days is negative after negative comments about his precious one, and no one seems to see how silly the saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" is because the words someone uses every day is a weapon in and of themselves. Words are designed to be the weapons good and bad people use first and foremost before they resort to other methods of violence.

Words were the first weapon that Camille, Jonathan, Lydia, and whoever else made fun of Alexander used, then, Jonathan took to the next step yesterday by using his hands and feet to harm him. What will they use next should the abuse continue? What party trick will Camille use to hurt his one? What about Raphael if nothing comes of him and Simon?

At that time Magnus knew he needed to start getting to know his Alexander despite having future plans of pulling his beautiful one on the pedestal of Most Popular. He needs to re-evaluate the future plans he'd been making, and quickly before Alexander jumps down a rabbit hole that Magnus won't be able to follow him down.

After all, Magnus' love for Alexander didn't just suddenly stop whenever he realizes the teen he's in love with isn't what he imagined him to be. For Alexander, his love was all-consuming, and he'd jump over any hurdle put in his way just to be able to be with him.

In Magnus' eyes, Alexander was worth it.


	15. 9/8/2017 - Sat 9/9/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we see a wise man give wisdom to a teen who is afraid of what he feels he must do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went back to Alec's last chapter to change a few things. I want to keep this as true to the Shadowhunters universe as possible while not pushing it too far.
> 
> Also, look! We've finally changed days!

The first thing Alec noticed when waking up was the soreness in his legs from the sudden and prolonged use when he ran away from Idris. He doesn't remember the run itself, but he vaguely remembers crashing into a set of double doors before immediately passing out from the exhaustion of the run, his crying, and the lack of air flowing to his brain.

The next thing he felt was the throbbing pain coming from his fractured ribs which was making it hard for him to breathe. It was a near unbearable pain, but he tried to push past it so he could open his eyes and find out where he is.

Groaning and looking around the room, he was met with a lot of green, white, and cream that seemed to blend into a soothing harmony in the ways they were draped and displayed. If he hadn't known any better, he'd say he was in a medieval healers room where the healer would come in on his waking just to tell him about his current condition.

He wasn't far off from his imagined scenario as a man draped in grey robes stands at the door Alec looks at once he's done processing the colors of the room. As Alec takes the man in, the man says, "You're finally awake."

The way the man speaks is close to demonic, but not so much as it held knowledge of topics that Alec, more likely than not, didn't know nor would he possibly ever want to know them; he didn't know how to really feel about this man as he's never experienced a man like him before in his life.

"You passed out on the floor of the sanctuary just inside the doors so I brought you here to the room of healing so you could sleep and heal," the man told him as he made his way around the room with Alec half expecting him to make some sort of elixir to help with Alec's pain, of course, his outlandish imagination was dashed away as the man placed painkillers and water on the bedside table.

The man, sensing Alec's curiosity, says, "Even the great Raziel stubbornly leaves us to feel some of the more mundane pain of our lives so we make do with mundane medicines."

Sitting up as best as his pained body would allow him, he takes the tablets and water swallowing them immediately so they could start working on ridding him of his pain right away. "W-W-Whe-W-Whe-Where a-am-am I-I?"

"You're in the House of Healing inside the Brooklyn Sanctuary of Raziel, those that come here frequently call it the City of Bones due to how white the walls are," the man tells him to alleviate any anxiety that Alec could have about where he is.

"A-A-An-An-And wh-who a-ar-are y-yo-y-you?" Alec asked him as he looked at the man, who has shown him more kindness than almost anyone in his life has. The only person that has been kind to him was Magnus - no one bothered to look at him like they wanted to be near him anymore.

The man tilted his head to the side as he answered, "My name is Brother Jeremiah, and I am a Silent Brother here in this sanctuary."

The answer was so simple, and yet, made Alec wonder who this man was before he became a Silent Brother. Much of the world looked down on Silent Brother's now for the way they seem to hold more knowledge of what the past holds, what is happening with the present, and the infinite futures that could cause the world to end or continue to thrive.

Politicians look down on the practices that they teach and utilize to help each other connect with the Angel, but with the way the world is, Politicians don't have much of a choice but to ask for their help.

Sanctuary and state have been separated for a couple hundred years, but there are times when the aide of the Angel is needed to ensure that they are taking the right path no matter how corrupt they themselves are.

Jonathan's own father, Valentine, learned the hard way just how damning the Angel can be if life isn't allowed to continue to grow and flourish. The rumors of where Valentine Morgenstern is are varied between being in a hospital in a neverending vegetative state and a maximum security prison forced to stay in a windowless room twenty-four hours a day.

Some fanatical theorists say that he's within the very building Alec is now being one of the many bodies that make up the walls of the catacombs underneath the sanctuary, locked away in a tormented sleep, not unlike the rumor of him being in a coma never to wake up again.

"W-W-Wh-Why di-did yo-y-you br-b-bring m-me in-in thi-this-this ro-r-roo-room?"

"Why not? You were a beacon crying out for the help nobody was willing to give you, so, I left you to heal in the eyes of the Angel"

Looking behind himself as best as he could, he saw a stain glass window depiction of the Angel himself, and he was made out of many shades of white, yellow, and green to signify his purpose to heal those that lay under the light that'd flow through the glass.

It was now clearly night time outside and that caused Alec to panic all over again as he saw just how long he'd slept, "I-I-I g-got-got t-t-to g-go-go n-n-no-now my-my par-parents wi-w-will be-be wor-wor-worri-worried" he said as he maneuvered himself over to the side of the bed.

"Alexander, you and I both know that worry and anger are two separate entities," Brother Jeremiah said knowing full well what reactions Maryse and Robert would have if Alec showed up to the house this late in the evening on a Friday, but Alec himself was hellbent on going home.

"I-I-I ne-ne-need t-to go-go" Alec told him knowing that, though it may be a bad idea, he should get home before he incurs both Lightwood's wrath even more than he already had with staying out this late.

Looking as calm as ever, Brother Jeremiah says, "Then go with the Angel looking down on you, young Alexander."

"H-How-How d-d-do y-y-you kn-know-know m-my na-na-name?"

"The Angel works in mysterious ways, we never know why he gives us the knowledge of a person, event, or change within the world - all we know is that it will impact our worlds in some way so we accept that knowledge as fact, and use it when it's needed."

It was an annoyingly cryptic answer, but, just as Jeremiah said, he accepted it as a fact that the Silent Brother will just know things about him without Alec even having to tell him about them.

Getting up holding his fractured ribs, he made his way over to the Silent Brother who stood by the door that'd lead him out of the room. "Remember Alexander Lightwood, to change yourself you must first find what needs to be changed and accept it's there to be changed."

That made Alec stop just a couple of inches away from the door opening, "Wh-W-Wh-What d-do-doe-does th-that me-mea-mean?" Alec asked him turning back around to the Silent Brother.

"You see yourself as broken, useless, and feel like you have no light within you to give to others," Brother Jeremiah says as if stating a fact, and, when Alec tried to back away so he didn't have to go on with the conversation, he says, "You must find what needs to be changed without the guidance of others and accept that it's there, and then, and only then, you have to work on changing it yourself."

The wisdom of the man when he told Alec that he must find what needed to change inside him was like having a wake-up call and jolt of his fears going through him all at once. He wanted to ask the man what if he didn't know what needed to change if no one told him? What if, after he changed something about himself, people still bullied and hurt him? What if his parents still sneered at him despite him trying to start pleasing them?

He soon found he couldn't breathe, couldn't think, and he was shaking from all the what if's, all of his fears, and all of the uncertainties threatening to consume him, but it all vanished when a calming hand was laid on his back, "Let out all your fears, speak them out and you'll finally be able to see that they're easier to face than they seem."

And so, with every stuttered breath, every shaky inhale and exhale, Alec gave voice to his fears. What he feared Robert and Maryse will think once he changes something about himself that they maybe don't like, what Magnus will do if he sees Alec after he'd ran out on him during lunch, what his siblings will say once he decides to change more about himself, and, most importantly of all, will he be able to recognize himself in the mirror once he's changed himself?

"You won't know until you try" was what Brother Jeremiah says after Alec airs out his fears.

He wouldn't know until he tried, and he believes the Silent Brother is right.


	16. 9/9/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we see Magnus turn Camille down, and gets a juicy secret between her and David Bell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one came out so late in the day, my head was killing me most the day so I had to deal with it until I was able to properly write so the first bit of this may seem awkwardly written.

It was Saturday, the day of David Bell's "Back to School" party and, despite everything in him saying that he really shouldn't be going as he was just a lowly Freshman that'd be surrounded by other teens of varying ages, he knew he had to start planning the first steps of his revenge against the teen.

It was going to take longer than just two measly days in order to get the boy to open up to him about all of his secrets so any digging in the brunette-haired teens home will be just a precursory check to see if he'll have it out in the open and nothing more.

Looking himself over in his floor length mirror, he made sure that his outfit for the night was on-pointe. He couldn't very well show up wearing something that wasn't perfect and, plus, Alexander could gather up some courage to come to the party.

Magnus doubted his beautiful one will have even a bit of courage to come, but it was a nice thought to have.

Straightening out his shirt, he went out through his bedroom door, descended the stairs, then went to the kitchen to see his Mom making herself something to eat.

"Hey, I'm going out," Magnus told the aging woman who still looked as beautiful as the first day he saw her. His Mom was a gracefully aging Indonesian woman whose had a lot of downs in her long life, but she's struggled with them each time despite the mental fatigue she experienced from those times.

Four years ago, she attempted suicide due to her depression having a stranglehold on her leaving her with a need to leave the world behind, but Magnus had found her before she could do any serious harm to herself.

That was the day Magnus realized that this beautiful woman, who was struggling to raise him alongside his stepdad, really felt about life and its hardships; sometimes a person is knocked down so much they'll decide to just stay down, and his Mom forced him to see that, that day.

"Okay, honey. Try to be back before five in the morning? You know your father likes to go to the sanctuary early in the morning."

Magnus knew just what she was talking about as he thought back on all of the years that he's been alive. Gregory Roberts was a devout worshipper of the Angel Raziel, and every Sunday he goes to the easiest-to-reach sanctuary just to pay his respects to everything that the Angel has given him in life.

That includes him and his Mom which always makes Magnus feel happy and accepted that the man, who wasn't biologically his father, would feel blessed and happy that he got to be in Magnus' life.

Magnus didn't know what the real feeling was, but it almost made him think it was like how a child should feel when they see the man that is their Dad right from birth; it was that all-knowing feeling that "Yes, this is my Dad" is.

"Alright, I'll more than likely be back by then, but, if not, I'll make sure to head over to the sanctuary in the morning," Magnus told her as he put on a light jacket so he didn't overheat in the waning Summer heat.

"I love you!" his Mom called out to him as he made it to the front door.

"Love you too!" he called back making sure he had his wallet, keys, and cellphone.

~~**~~

The party was in full swing once Magnus arrived, the street was lined with cars as well as half the front yard; Magnus knew from the first few parties he was invited to earlier in the year that cars in the yard leave tire tracks, and tire tracks are very noticeable to a parent who is supposed to be unaware that the party was going on.

Not that he was the one hosting one of the parties that is.

Walking through the open front door, he was immediately immersed in many different scents, sounds, and people crowding the house. It was a stereotypical house party and Magnus would usually love to just get into the flow of it with the booze, gossiping girls, and couples making out anywhere they could find a steady wall to lean against.

Tonight, unfortunately, he had plans, plans he couldn't just skip over for the sake of having a good time at a party. No, he had a mission of the utmost importance and he had to play his role seamlessly in order to find out just what he wanted to know.

Walking through the crowds, he listened to the song "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" by Skrillex as it played out; the song was several years old, but some teens still thought it had some relevance due to its bass and beat, apparently.

He was heading towards the kitchen when a hand grabbed his arm and pulled him backward, turning around he saw it was none other than the dragon girl herself, Camille.

She looked as polished as a wax figure, and all he wanted to do was take her hand off his arm but something in him told him to wait. Listening to the feeling, he walked with her to a couch where they both sat down and she placed some unknown liquid-in-a-cup into his hands.

"Now that we're all settled, why don't you tell me why you're messing around with Gaywood," she tells him straight up no question to it, just a statement of fact.

Magnus wasn't about to play dumb and say, "I don't know what you're talking about" because he'd been making it plainly obvious to everyone who he has set his eyes on so he decided to just go with it and told her the truth, "I want him to be my boyfriend like I planned for him to be years ago."

Camille didn't have a hair out of place once she looked towards him with her snide answer of, "You'd willingly ruin the little bit of relevant reputation you hold in the school for that walking tub of lard? Oh, Magnus, you could do so much better than him" she told him looking at him like she knew exactly who could be better for him.

All of the insults against Alexander were about to make him snap, but he held down his anger as best as he could, "Really? And who would be better for me than the boy I see as my wife?"

"Me"

At her answer, he imagined himself taking a gun out and shooting her with it. He wasn't stupid enough to try and date the hottest girl in Freshman year after the bullshit that Lavina Gamble did back in his 7th Grade year when she'd tried telling him to stop wearing makeup as her boyfriend couldn't look prettier than her.

Twenty minutes later, he found himself single and ready to set his sights on a more promising future.

Camille Belcourt had a part in his future plans right now, but he wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.

"No" was the answer he gave her before he stood up no longer wanting to be near her or talk to her in any way but, of course, she had to have some parting words that didn't even faze Magnus in any way, "You continue following that waste of air and you will soon find yourself on his level, Magnus, and you won't like what kind of torment I can bring to a pretty boy like you."

That made Magnus stop in his tracks.

In all due reality, Magnus has never been on the bottom of the food chain in school because he looked and dressed like someone that came from a well-off family when, actually, all of his clothes are a couple years old - he just mixed and matched them together to make them relevant to the latest fashion trends.

He's never been on the bottom of the food chain looking up, but he figures nows a good time as any to start if Camille is threatening him with it, "Well, then I'll get comfortable with my newest position in the food chain. I don't need popularity to love the boy I plan to have for the rest of my life."

Walking away from her enraged face has never been more satisfying as he finally, temporarily, put her in her place. He wasn't afraid of a little girl who didn't hold the amount of venom he has as the devastation he was going to wreck will force the little girl to move away just so she wouldn't have to face the humiliation he'd bring down on her.

Right now, he needed to get his head back into the game so he can sort out what he is going to do to get into David's bedroom. He could: a) Hopefully find him drunk and convince him to unlock his door for him, b) Amateurly try to pick the lock or c) Find a random person, and act like they're about to have sex.

Honestly, the first two are more appealing than the last one as he'd have to do a bait and switch just to get it to work; minimal effort is better than maximum effort in these sort of situations as the party is already a distraction for the teenager he is trying to screw over so he figures he'll have to find the guy and see just how drunk he is.

~~**~~

After thirty minutes of looking for him, Magnus got pissed off so he decided to go upstairs instead as "Tremor" by Dimitri Vegas, Martin Garrix, and Like Mike started playing through the speakers making those on the made-up dance floor start to dance a little more aggressively and, sadly, even more clumsily as they tried to have sex on the dance floor with anyone close to them.

Making his way through the medium length hallway, he found out that the master bedroom was occupied by a threesome going on between two guys and a girl, the smaller of the bedrooms was occupied by a lesbian couple, but the third one had it's door closed though sounds were coming from it that sounded sexual in nature.

Curious, Magnus opened the door as silently as possible only to see something that'd scar him for the rest of the year. It seemed that Camille herself was willing to lower than her popularity level to have her first sexual experience with a teen that wasn't as popular as she was.

"Interesting" Magnus said as he boldly looked at the copulating couple with a shine of mischief in his eyes as he caught them having sex together; also the fact that Camille acts like a grown woman when she was only a girl herself on the inside and outside.

The two of them pulled away quickly as if they'd been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. The scream of pain that came from Camille as David jerked out of her still-tender body made a part of Magnus feel bad for her, but not enough to stop the cruel thoughts that filled him right behind it.

"Trying to talk about my feelings for Alexander and yet, here you are having sex with a boy below your popularity level, Camille. Really? Don't you know you could do so much better?" he told her as he slapped back at her the words she'd used on him.

"Oh, and don't expect her to stay with you forever. I know how girls like she is, I've seen their phone numbers on the backs of stall doors."

Magnus has never felt so smug up until that point. He's got dirt on both Camille and David all in the span of a few seconds, and he just couldn't believe his luck.

It seems his plans will start working out the way he wants them too without him even really trying, but he can't let this little victory make him too cocky. After all, Camille is nearly as venomous as he is and she will use any tool she has in order to try and bury him.


	17. Author's Note

I'm sorry this isn't an "early release" chapter or anything like that, but guys I'm sorry to say that I've been sick for the last few days and have barely been getting out of bed enough to play a couple of games let alone think about Alec's next chapter.  If I get better by Tuesday, you bet your ass I'll be posting his chapter up just to make this up to you before then, however, I'm bed ridden and have sinus cavities as big as hot air balloons.

On another note, while I'm here, I've seen a couple of you having a problem with Magnus calling Alec his "wife" even though he knows by now that he'd be his "husband" and not his "wife" anymore.  At this point in their lives, it's become an endearment of sorts that Magnus felt no reason to correct and Alec doesn't want it corrected; to correct it would be like erasing the time in his life where he was happiest, and he'd just rather not correct.

Any mistakes in this author's note will be down to writing in the dark, and my half-working brain.

If that doesn't make sense as well, well, you know why and I will try to explain it better later on either in the story or in another note before the chapter.

Thank you,

Chelsea


	18. 9/9/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we see Alec try to figure out how to change only for himself, and Maryse is a evil bitch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Alec very, very,very briefly contemplates suicide.
> 
> After I get this posted, I'm immediately going to write Magnus' chapter and post it for you all so look forward to that.

By the time Alec got home early on Saturday morning, he was both physically and mentally exhausted by his abrupt run the day before as well as the knowledge of knowing that an omnipotent being knew what was going on in his life and was giving him cryptic advice on how to deal with it.

The thing that Alec tried to figure out on his walk home was if he should take the advice or not.

It's not like some guy is going to walk out in front of him telling him the answers to the universe, but he'd like more advice on changing himself for just himself rather than feeling like he has to change to suit everyone's wants and needs of him.

He doesn't want to be the big brother that Izzy and Jace should have simply because they want him to be that, he wants to be that person for them because he wants to be.

How does one go about separating the wants of others from needs of self?

How does a person go about changing themselves exclusively for themselves?

Alec's head was bursting at the seams with all of the questions rolling through his head. Changing for yourself just wasn't as easy as it looked to him, but he needs to start somewhere.

"I-I-I d-don't k-kn-know, m-may-m-maybe a h-ho-hobby" he muttered to himself, and like a lightbulb, an idea came to his head.

Sketching, daydreaming, and escaping into a reality that wasn't his own just wasn't helping him improve himself for the betterment of himself so, he had to get creative in just what he chose to start changing into someone he, himself, would be proud of.

As he entered his family home, his head was bursting to the seams with thoughts completely different to those that were just plaguing it, but all that stopped when he heard Maryse's voice say, "Where have you been?"

Alec's entire body froze just as he was about to go upstairs to his bedroom. All of the thoughts of his first step to changing immediately vanished at the sound of her angry voice directed at him.

The snickering from his siblings made the situation worse as he knew they'd take some small pleasure from the fact he was in trouble with the imposing woman that is their Mother.

If there was ever a woman who could make you feel like bacteria under a microscope, it was Maryse Lightwood when she set her fiery brown eyes on you with the hard stare of a woman on a mission to make you feel like a lesser person with how ruthless she can be.

Humans and Alec have a special word for someone like her: terrifying.

His Mother is a terrifyingly ruthless person that you just don't cross, and Alec has crossed her twice in just as many days.

"I-I-I wa-w-was was at-at th-t-th..." his response was immediately cut off by the woman who gave birth to him.

"Either respond in a clear, cohesive sentence or don't bother speaking at all. All these years of Speech Therapy you'd think you'd have made progress in actually learning to speak like a normal human being" she snapped at him and Alec just knew the woman was about to go on the warpath.

"Honestly, I don't see why we put you in those classes if all you're going to do is purposefully continue to shame us with that annoying stutter of yours; you absolutely refuse to get better even though we've taken you to the best Speech Therapists in the country, and they all say that you'll grow out of it with help, but that's not happening, is it?"

Alec tilted his head down resigning himself to listening to the hurtful words that his Mother says as his heart breaks more and more. He thinks to himself that he doesn't purposefully continue to stutter, he tries his hardest to get better, but it's like the stutter works against him.

He tries so hard, so hard but his best just isn't enough when it comes to ridding himself of one of the flaws that make up who he is. "For Angel's sake Alexander, tilt your head back up looking at the floor makes people think they are better than you, do you want them to walk all over you?"

He silently mutters to himself, "Y-Yo-Y-You al-alre-already d-d-do."

The lump that forms in his throat as he mutters that to himself makes him want to crumble to the stairs and just cry as he realizes that all the anger, all the sadness, all the hate, and torment as made him the person he is.

It was never his fault the way he dealt with the stress that was continuously placed upon him, but it was the people around him that molded him into the person they never wanted him to be.

They thought that Alexander Gideon Lightwood, right out of the womb, would be like his Father and Mother - infallible and able to take anything thrown at him, but they forgot along the way that Alec is just a child; learning to be infallible and self-confident is learned over time with positive reinforcement.

Alec has never heard a single kind word out of his parents' mouths towards him, and he's just emotionally done with it all.

Without a single word to her, to Jace, or to Isabelle, he just turns around and goes upstairs like he'd been planning to do. "Alexander, get back down here. I'm not done with you, young man" Maryse says to him angrily expecting him to do what she tells him to do.

Looking up at the fuming woman, the tears that he'd been holding back start to cascade down his face as he says, "W-We-W-Well I-I'm-I'm d-don-do-done wi-with you" he tells her before he turns around and continues his way up the stairs as the tears stream down his face.

Maryse's angry words didn't reach the agony rolling through his mind as his heart clenched with all the hateful words he directing towards himself about how he'll never be good enough in the eyes of his parents, his peers, and that Magnus would be better off without him.

He's never contemplated suicide before, but he's feeling it'd be a better place than the world of the living right now though he can't leave this plane of existence that way - there's no honor in killing himself just to escape a place that is increasingly showing he's unwanted.

If he left things unfinished, he'd be dying for the sake of dying and, whether he's overreacting right now or not, he can't die without knowing he's tried to change the way people act towards him.

He needs to become stronger mentally, emotionally, and physically.

He just doesn't know how to yet.


	19. Mon - 9/11/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who ordered the fluff? I have a large fluff here! Who ordered it? I also have a tiny bit of sassy Magnus as a side dish!

By Monday morning, word had spread throughout the Freshmen (and some Upper Classmen) body that Magnus Bane was labeled the bottom of the barrel, the lowest status of popularity, a loner by none other than Camille Belcourt, but Magnus was already working on reverse that.

He may not be revealing what he has on Camille and David from the Back To School party the previous Saturday, but he wasn't afraid to do a little more digging just to humiliate David in a character flaw that he was unaware that Magnus would know of.

The time he was eight and he put on his Mom's clothes, makeup, and accessories. He'd, apparently, proclaimed he was a Barbie girl the whole day which the family had filmed for Magnus' own, personal, amusement before he released it out school-wide during First Period that bright and early morning.

Everyone in the school got to see David Bell in his finest as he clopped around his family home in his Mom's high heels, bra, skirt, and makeup that only a child could put together by themselves. The snickering of his Dad as he followed his son all the way to the kitchen where his wife was, was just as amusing as it painted such a pretty picture that David Bell was forced to leave school for the rest of the day.

Once more, as lunch rapidly approached, Magnus geared up for the spittle that Camille will be flinging at him due to his obvious insult of the boy that she'd had her first time with.

Ah, yes, he'll not soon let the evil cunt live that secret down, after all, she was no doubt going to try to use Alexander against him in some way, and he had to defend his beautiful wife from the horrid she-serpent that'd try to tear him down.

Speaking of Alexander, Magnus hopes he's back in school today as he hadn't seen him all weekend even though, granted, Magnus didn't know where he lived so he couldn't check on the lightly-tanned skinned boy to see how he was after what happened on Friday.

It had really hurt him that Alexander had run out on him, but he couldn't help but to believe that more was going on underneath the surface with his love that he just couldn't see beyond what the boy showed to Magnus.

As his thoughts consumed him, he twisted one of his many rings around on his finger as he thought of what could possibly be hurting him so much that he would block even Magnus out of his head and choose to run away from his problems than seek to have them be resolved in some way, but, Magnus could only speculate what was going on with his lover at the moment.

Everything coming to Magnus' head wasn't good, and it caused him to worry even more.

"What? Is little ickle Maggy worried about his fat slut?" came the venomous voice that made Magnus' hackles rise and his attention immediately slide over to the Cobra of a girl that has increased the size of her thorn in his side despite the secret they held between them.

"What? Is little ickle Cammy worried about what people will think when they find out she's not a slut?" he snapped back at her viciously which seemed to piss the girl off more as she stomped away from him in a rage.

The smirk that stretched across his face in victory lasted for exactly thirty seconds before he caught sight of his beautiful one. Just like Thursday and Friday, Alexander was wearing his grey hoodie with the hood pulled up over his face but, just because Magnus couldn't see it, doesn't mean he didn't know that the boy looked unusually exhausted; like he was still craving the sleep he hadn't gotten.

Making his way over to him, Magnus slipped his arms around the young man's waist making him jump in surprise before he, just as quickly, melted into Magnus' arms, "What's wrong, my little love? You look so tired."

"I-I a-a-am" Alexander responded weakly as his left hand came up to rub at his face. The too big sleeve with the sleepy look on his face made Magnus nearly melt in how utterly cute it was; if Alexander got anymore cuter Magnus would be swinging a baseball bat at other teens just to keep them away from his cutie.

Turning around in Magnus' arms, Alexander huddled into Magnus as best as he could like he was a sleepy cat looking to just get held, pet, and hide away from the light that was penetrating their eyelids.

"Oh my beautiful one, let's get you something to eat and then get you sat down, I'll happily hold you as you take a nap" Magnus cooed at him to which Alexander just nodded in agreement to his plan.

Like this, Alexander was so trusting and loving that Magnus was happy the boy was just too exhausted to think about anything upsetting or hurtful; Magnus guessed he did enough of that over the weekend? Then again, he was adverse to even think of anything negative that Alexander could've done.

After getting one plate for the both of them, Magnus brought them both over to a secluded bench on the outside patio so it'd be much easier for Alexander to lie down in his lap rather than trying to stretch out over seats that had gaps between them.

"My beautiful, beautiful Alexander" Magnus muttered to him as he pulled the hood off his head while getting his lovely one to face towards his stomach so the sun would get blocked out as much as he could get it to.

After the hood was off, he started stroking his fingers through Alexander's hair in a soothing gesture which seemed to lull the boy into a more peaceful sleep as the frown and worry lines vanished from his face like magic.

Magnus was always told he could soothe just about anyone if he put his mind to it, and he was damn well putting his mind to it right at that moment as Alexander continued to sleep his way through lunch.

Magnus never disturbed him as they both stayed there well past the end of First Lunch and on into Second Lunch.


	20. 9/11/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Alec shows his side of Magnus' chapter, and reveals why he is so tired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I pretty much blanked today away until I saw it was 7 pm my time, and saw I haven't even written anything for Alec's chapter. I write better under pressure apparently :'3

Come Monday morning, Alec was exhausted from all of the thoughts that have been rolling around in his head; from ideas of trying to change himself only for himself, to the constant ache in his chest from simply acknowledging the fact he'll never be good enough for either of his parents, and the knowledge of knowing that he was just a joke to his younger siblings who didn't know the constant agony he was still in due the beating he got on Thursday.

Mathematics was a blur as he just sat at his desk staring blankly at the board while his eyes glazed over with tiredness (his black eyes having lessened in their swelling over the weekend). His head was so tired yet so active he bet he had gotten about four hours of sleep the entire weekend, and he himself was none-too-happy about it as he thrived on the simple pleasure of letting his mind wander away from the real world.

Now, however, his mind was fastened on the thoughts of his own miserable, depressing life, and the fact that he hasn't done anything to change it until Jonathan forcefully showed him that he was taking everything laying down - he was accepting it without any protest against it and well, now that he's seen what he's been doing, he's trying to steadfastly change it.

But change doesn't come about overnight like some desperate girls trying to fit in convince themselves happen, no, change happens over a period of weeks, months, or even years. He has to start his change one step at a time as well.

Honestly, when Alec is this tired, most of the thoughts running through his head are more logical rather than illogical thoughts clogged with his own self-hatred, self-esteem issues, and self-whatever issues that he seemed to have developed over the years.

He was also blatantly sarcastic to the people that like to tell him he's worthless which ends up with him lashing back out to them in some form or fashion that lets them know that the way they just opened their mouth to tell him how worthless he is shows how insecure and lacking their own lives are; basically showing them that they insult him just to justify their lives, personalities, or own character flaws aren't as bad as his physical ones when, in reality, they are worse.

Alec becomes rather angry and aggressive when he's so tired that he doesn't even want to go to school even though he must.

Seeing Magnus at Lunch though was like the Angel shining down upon him, and in turn, it turned him into a fluffy cloud of "Let me use you as a pillow as you look really, really comfy right now".

Burrowing his way into Magnus' neck, he took on the personality of a cat in the sense that all he wanted was his human to provide a way to block his eyes from the annoying fluorescent lights, be a softly firm spot to be held on, and every once in a while pet his hair (fur) in a comforting way that'd keep him lulled into the light sleep he needed to have right at that moment.

Laying down on the patio bench wasn't the most comfortable of places to take a nap, but the muscle of Magnus' thigh, the light musky cologne wafting off of him, and the hand carding through his hair was like a symphony of music lulling him to sleep.

It was like Nightwish's "While Your Lips Are Still Red" being played lowly in the background that started organizing the cacophony of Alec's mind, and like a lightbulb going off in his head, he finally knew one of the first steps to start changing himself for himself.

It'd been staring at him the whole time and he'd never even known it.

It'd been one of the things he'd run away to in his own mind for so many years now, and it was just now occurring to him that Alec Lightwood, the boy in his sketchbook that Alec himself wished to be like, held the key to the starting of his transformation.

Archery, Alec has always been in love with stories like Robin Hood, the comic book character Hawkeye, and the Hunger Games series just solidified it as he always watched tv shows and movies that had a bow and arrow wielding character just a little bit more than others.

Hell, his current favorite TV show was Arrow just for the simple fact that Oliver Queen was the Green Arrow who wields a bow and arrow to fight crime; how awesome is that?

On the flipside, Hawkeye learned everything he knows from the Circus becoming an expert marksman, and deadly trained assassin that could whip just about anyone's tail if he put his entire focus and strength into it...well...everyone but the entirety of the Avengers because everyone aside from Tony Stark who has an unfair advantage of surrounding himself in armour at just the mear thought were all hulking brutes of men that could lay him out flatter than a pancake.

Maybe that's why he constantly dies and comes back? Oh well, he's still alive in the movies so it's all fair in Alec's mind, but going back to his initial thoughts, learning Archery is a very tempting thought. It felt like it'd be the bread to his butter and the resulting dish that'd be served is some out-of-this-world combination that'd elicit ten out of ten marks of a grade scale.

The magical fingers combing through his hair was like the ushering of a page being turned and his mind flipped to a different thought entirely. He knew, first and foremost, he needed to work on his speech impediment, that was the one thing he had to try his hardest to get over because it was the first thing in his life blocking his ability to have a normal one.

Though, then again, Drew Lynch on America's Got Talent showed that you could find the humor in your own disability, that you can turn your own weakness into your own strength, but Alec doesn't think he has the guts to turn the one thing even he hates into a strength that he could use to grow from.

For now, he knows that he has two ways to start changing himself and that's through dedication in Speech class and going to see Brother Jeremiah every Sunday so he can start confiding in and talking to someone that is entirely removed from his life and the people he has to deal with every day.

Maybe having someone to talk to that is outside of his usual atmosphere of his parents, Magnus, and everyone else will be able to help him figure himself out along the way as he starts changing himself into someone he can be proud of.

Fuck his Mother, fuck his Father, and fuck whoever is wanting him to become someone they want - he wants to be someone he wants to be, and that's it.

Nuzzling into Magnus' thigh, he lets out a happy sigh up until the boy above him says, "I'm sorry, my darling but we need to get to Fifth Period now."

The softness of his voice combined with the way Alec's mind is mostly put together now helps usher him back into wakefulness. Swinging himself around on the seat sluggishly shows that he's still not as rested as he should be, but it was enough to get him through the next hour of school until he gets to Auto Mechanics class which is still in the introduction phase to the class so they are mostly sitting down.

Prime opportunity to take a nap, and he wasn't fool enough to not take it despite knowing he'd be likely failing the class by the end of the year if he doesn't start going and paying attention to what is being taught.

He yawns widely stretching his arms above his head not knowing he was flashing Magnus a stripe of his stomach turning the teen on though he was able to quickly hide it once Alec pulled his arms back down.

Standing up, the both of them opened the doors to the Lunchroom where they quickly melded with the crowd that was going back to their classrooms. Turning back towards Magnus, he felt a bit of courage well up within him which he quickly captured then put into a quick action of kissing Magnus on his addictive lips before turning back around and rushing towards his class.

Alec was stunned, but happy with himself as he made his way back to his Earth Science class where he grabbed his backpack then made his way back to the exit of the room.

That was another thing he needed to figure out, his true feelings for Magnus; the teen, when Alec wasn't thinking about how to change himself for himself, was a thought that plagued him with the unknown feelings that Alec has for him.

Alec doesn't know what true happiness feels like, Alec doesn't know what love feels like, Alec doesn't know what a lot of good emotions feel like, but he'd willingly learn them in any way he could and if that meant using Magnus as a test dummy to see what emotions the teen evoked within Alec's body that he's never felt before, well, sorry Magnus.

Alec would do anything to get that rush of happiness that surged through him when Magnus kissed him for the first time - it was like getting high without taking any drugs...not that Alec knows what getting high was like as he's never done drugs before, but he figured it was like when his brain went to the sky as his body slipped to the ground.

It was a rush of endorphins (what Scientists call it) that was so addicting he wants to turn around just to make out with Magnus in the middle of the hallway before Alec went to his English I, but, Alec's courage has since fizzled out after the brief moment he had it within himself to do something gutsy.

For now, however, Alec will keep the feelings Magnus has thus far brought to the forefront of Alec's mind to himself so he could marvel at them like the precious balls of light energy that have made themselves known to him.

Unlike Maryse's anger, Jace's hurtful laughter, Isabelle's sneer, and Robert's disdain for him, what Magnus has done for him is like leading him down a series of hallways that were just as fascinating and wonderful as the last one they passed. Alec never wants these feelings to leave him even though the darkness within him looms just behind him and, right now, that darkness will do anything to destroy the precious balls of light that Magnus has gifted to him.

The darkness wishes to bring Alec back within its unyielding clutches as he desperately tries to fight it back with everything that Magnus has gifted to him as well as the strength he's been trying to gain over the few days; Alec has been trying to fight back the darkness that started to eat away at him on Saturday with his Mother's hurtful words.

The fight has left him with little sleep thus is why he's so exhausted today, and why he willingly took the comfort Magnus was offering him. Fighting his own negativity is exhausting, and the light that Magnus shines so brightly with is so welcoming.

Alec knew that his darkness could very well snuff out his existence, but if he wasn't there it'd hurt Magnus and the light he shines with so Alec is fighting his darkness so he could stay with Magnus and keep the light shining within the beautiful teen glowing brightly.

He'd never allow anyone to snuff out Magnus' light, not even himself.


	21. 9/11/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Magnus has more questions than answers about Alexander, but he knows he'll do anything for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this one is cutting it close, but I've been playing games recently and I've been distracted with them D;

The shock from Alexander's sudden kiss leaves him standing in the hallway for a full minute thinking of how much courage it must've taken him to even do that versus just holding his hand and taking a nap on his lap.

Maybe tiredness makes his wife more open about his feelings rather than when he's more coherent? All speculation and no answers about his love is pissing Magnus off yet making him more intrigued about the boy each and every day that goes by; it makes him want to chase after the boy more and more just to get more questions and answers about who this wonderfully self-conscious teen is.

Magnus knows that Alexander has more issues than his Vogue magazine subscription, but it's what draws Magnus to him as he knows that Alexander is struggling to get ahold of being someone he wasn't supposed to be.

Magnus believes that Alexander was supposed to be a stronger person than who he is right now, it's like some innate feeling inside of him is saying that Alexander was supposed to be someone sassy, witty, sarcastic, but loving when he's around people he loves, tolerates, or likes to a certain degree. Everyone else would get the brash, defensive, and cold man that'd tell you his exact thoughts on how you're acting and why you should stop.

Magnus likes to think he'd get the first one alongside the hidden side of Alexander where he'd curl up into Magnus like a cat and just lay there taking in the comfort that Magnus was all too willing to provide.

Entering his English I class, he was presented with another shock when he spotted his lovely cherub in the back row all too willing to look like a half-dead zombie trying to keep his gorgeous hazel eyes open and focused on the whiteboard at the front of the class rather than smushing his adorable little nose into the desk in order to take a nap.

Tilting his head to the side in a moment of complete and utter awe of the boy who has yet to even notice him there, he continued to contemplate the meaning of having a fanboy heart for the very same teen he's had the fortune of being able to kiss already.

It's like that moment when you realize that your love for someone was so great that not even the person you hate most could ruin the image of just seeing your fixation in the flesh once more though you saw them not two minutes ago.

Course, Magnus forgot that some people in the class still didn't like Alexander as much as he does and that becomes apparent when a rolled up piece of paper comes flying at Alexander hitting him harmlessly in the head then continuing its descent to the ground where it rolled a few inches and coming to a stop at Magnus' feet.

Alexander blinked a few times as if to clear the fog of his mind and that's when he spotted Magnus now standing right beside him. "Hello darling, I didn't know I'd get the pleasure of having a class with you," Magnus tells him as he sets his backpack down beside the desk as he took the seat to Alexander's left.

Alexander's mouth opens and Magnus was able to understand this sentence so clearly that he was shocked by this gorgeous teen yet again, "I-I tho-tho-thought I'd b-be alo-al-alone in-in this p-p-period."

The very fact that Alec was able to say two words clearly was a shock, but the fact that he openly admitted that he thought he'd have to endure not getting a single class without Magnus just hurt his heart a little due to the fact that, yes, Magnus wished they had more classes together, but he couldn't pick and choose his core classes like he wished to, but they at least had this class.

Reaching over for Alexander's left hand with his right, Magnus looks at him seriously and says, "If I could, I'd force them to change all my classes just to get all five of them with you. You're no longer alone."

The tears seemed to escape the tired Alexander's mind, and he doesn't seem to notice them or doesn't care to wipe them away so Magnus takes out a tissue from his jacket pocket, turns to his right side, and starts to gently wipe them away with a care he's only shown his Mother.

"I care about you so much Alexander that it pains me to see you so hard on yourself as well as so self-conscious, please, let me take care of you and you'll see what a good husband I can be to my beautiful wife."

The words slipped out like water down a waterfall and Magnus doesn't regret them for a second; all that he'd just said was true, but he needs Alexander to figure out what he wants for his future. Will it include Magnus? He doesn't know, but all he does know is that Alexander seems to be struggling with something and that something is wearing him out to the point of exhaustian.

Carefully wiping another of the black-haired teens tears away, he looks into the tired hazel eyes that he adores and wonders what the future will hold for them if there is even a future for them.

He knows one thing, he wants Alexander to be his and his alone, he'll fight anyone for that right.


	22. 9/11/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a sleep-deprived Alec shows us how sleep-deprived he really is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I, literally, looked at my clock and saw it was Wednesday and I freaked. I thought it was Tuesday, today, and well, here's the late-ish chapter :D

The softness of the tissue wiping his tears away and the loving words that poured out of Magnus' mouth forced him to take a deep breath as if to inhale all that was going on around him, and yet, the constant fog that permeated his mind refused to release him from its hazy grasp despite knowing that he needed to pay attention to what the teacher was trying to teach him.

"I-I..." he tried to respond to the kind, loving words that fell out of Magnus' mouth like a twinkling sonnet that spoke of such promises as love, acceptance, and care all that wrapped around his hazy mind that desperately needed sleep.

He was passed rambling out about oddities, passed trying to make two thoughts connect into one despite knowing they never would, and he was passed the ability to control his wayward emotions. Now, he was just numb to everything around him even though he knew the comfortable touch of Magnus' hand against his cheek was nearly beckoning him to go back to sleep within its softness.

Blinking his eyes, he forced himself to try and get himself to focus on something other than Magnus' loving gaze that had locked him into a staring contest for the past ten minutes, but it was just hopeless at this point.

It was Magnus who dragged his eyes away from Alec's hazy hazel eyes, "Ma'am? I believe Alexander isn't feeling well and needs to go to the Nurses Office" the Indonesian teen tells the teacher who asks if he really needs too but Alexander's sleep-deprived mind simply couldn't drag up enough words to respond to her.

"Yes, Miss Garroway. He can't speak because his throat is so sore" Magnus lied to her like it was his chosen profession in life to lie to anyone he was talking to, and Alec silently hoped that Magnus hasn't used that tone of voice on him thus far but he simply didn't know nor care at the moment.

All Alec wanted right now was a nice, soft bed, a fluffy blanket, and a pillow to lay his head on for the next few hours as he catches up on his sleep.

"Mr. Bane, I'm not talking to you. Mr. Lightwood, are you ill enough that you need to see the Nurse?" she asked Alec looking right at him as if waiting for his answer.

Alec right at her and said, "Did a herd of goats just walk through the door? Because the trampling I heard just now reminded me of them."

Alec was not joking when he said that, his mind and face couldn't comprehend that he didn't stutter for once and that he asked his English I teacher a very absurd question that could be grounds for getting him a detention.

And by the peeved look on her face, the laughter that Alec was hearing around him due to his absurd question wasn't registering to her teacher oriented mind thus she didn't find what he just said funny in the slightest.

Magnus himself looked shocked and scared about what the teacher will be doing to Alec now that his hazy mind finally strung together a question that was so absurd that it was funny.

"Detention, Mr. Lightwood. I'll see you this afternoon" she told him before turning around.

Alec, panicked by getting detention combined with his sleep-deprived brain shouted, "No! The Dragons at home are going to be mad and breathe slime at me if I don't show up on time! You don't want to be on the ass end of the She-Dragon! Her farts are smelly!"

By this point, Alec has given up hope on ever making himself understood through the haze of sleepiness that he'd plunged himself into in a bid to fight back his darkness, and has in the timespan of twenty minutes talking without his stutter, made his Mother come off as a slime breathing, farting Dragon, and, made himself get detention for a week.

The idiotic thought of "This can't get any worse" comes to the logical, rational part of his mind before he blurts out this little gem, "I wanna be a teacup one day, you know why? Because I'll get the greatest tasting things poured into me and, just as the drinks getting good, you taste dirty dishwater. That taste ruins everything let me tell you."

He, at this point, is standing up from his seat with the entire classes attention on him as his brain-to-mouth filter takes a hike and he spews anything and everything from his mind.

"I know I'm getting a months worth of detention from disrupting class, but do I care? Nope, because you've already labeled me as a delinquent so I might as well live up to the title, aye? I mean, really, if you think about it a person is only labeled a delinquent in someone's mind when that someone doesn't realize how sleep-deprived the blabbermouth standing right here is."

Alec completed that entire statement with a finger poking himself in the chest, and the red face of the teacher glaring at him just made him want to throw the rule book out and continue on, "And, come on now, this is the longest I've gone without switching to stutter mode in my brain which is a relief really because stuttering gets so annoying even to me, OK? I live with that crap twenty-four seven and it is not fun times."

It wasn't apparent to Alec that most of the students started filming his sleep-deprived rants to that they can share them with their friends with messages like, "Lightwood's finally lost it" and "Tis guy gon cray-cray".

"Oh, oh, and let's not forget how my entire year sees me as nothing but a ghost! I might as well make ghost noises around you sacks o' shit! I mean, seriously, the only time I'm acknowledged is when someone wants to beat the shit out of me, call me insults that are increasingly becoming less and less creative, and let's not forget that the guy I've spent YEARS crushing on is nothing like the kid I remember!"

Alec, pointing an accusing finger at a bewildered Magnus, shouts, "Look how hot he is! And he wants me! How fucked is that? Me! A kid who is 165 lbs, can just barely reach the top shelf of a cabinet, and has eyes so muddy that they look like a pollution infested swamp! And you wonder if muffin-topped teens can't get the hot guys and girls, bitch please!"

There seemed to be no end to the sleep-deprived rant that Alec was going on, "Oh, and you know what you assholes will never experience? His lips, ya wanna know why? They're mine, and I'm not going to ask for a refund! I know later I'm going to want to dig my own grave in mortification, but right now I'm having so much fun! I'm so light that I could fly out the window!"

"Alexander, stop!"

Too late.

Alec, while flapping his arms like a bird, hit the window of the classroom head on and he fell to the ground knocking himself out. What a great end to a great and terrible Fifth Period.


	23. 9/11/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Magnus and Catarina have a heated discussion over what's best for Alec.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look! This one is on time! :D  
> Hope you all enjoy it!  
> Edit: I totally forgot I had an English I teacher picked out already in my jumble of notes for CYS(OFY) so I'll be going back and changing the teachers name in the last chapter as well. Sorry!  
> Oh and, by the way, it's Amatis Garroway so nobody gets her confused with Jocelyn.

There was a stunned silence in the room as everyone couldn't believe how wild and crazy Alexander had gotten within the first thirty minutes of the class period.

There was no way that Miss Garroway could've expected one of her new students to go off the cuff and willingly spew out all of his feelings about his peers in one go before he knocked himself out after running headfirst into a plate glass window that used the force of motion to propel his already damaged body backward which concluded with him being knocked out when his head met the tiled floor.

Magnus, finally shaking himself out of a rather small portion of his shock, he quickly hurried over to Alexander's prone form just to check his head and body over for any additional injuries that this wonderfully stupid boy had just caused himself.

Other than a nice goose egg on the back of his head, he didn't seem to have caused his head any serious injuries that'd require him to spend more time at the hospital.

"If you'd be so kind, Miss Garroway, of finally letting me take Alexander here to the Nurses Office, I'd like a professional to look him over for any life-threatening injuries that I can't see," Magnus said looking at the stunned teach with a serious expression on his face.

Having to grow up rather quickly after his Mother's attempted suicide, Magnus read anything and everything he could about basic first aid, but he didn't have an ice pack on him nor did he have the privacy to check for injuries under his beloveds clothes; he wasn't about to let everyone see what he considered his only to see.

Miss Garroway, still in complete and utter shock, just nodded her head in acquiescence which was all of the approval that Magnus needed to pick his Alexander up in his arms so he could get his love to Nurse Catarina as quickly as possible.

Jem Carstairs, who is closest to the door, walks up to open it for him so he wouldn't have to try to balance Alexander in his arms while trying to open the door.

Giving the silver-streaked teen a nod in thanks, Magnus continued on his way to the Nurses Office where, once she'd looked up from whatever she was doing, immediately shows a peeved face until she sees that Alexander wasn't sleeping, but passed out.

Immediately shooting into Concerned Nurse mode, she has Magnus set Alexander down upon one of the two empty beds held within the four stark white walls of the room before shooting him questions of how did he get knocked out and what caused the incident to occur.

Magnus answered her truthfully stating Alexander had gone on an unstuttered rant, that he's barely had any sleep all weekend, and that he'd knocked himself out after slamming into one of the windows in their English I classroom.

"Oh, this boy is just becoming more and more troublesome" Catarina sighed as she made sure all of his previous injuries from Jonathan and his merry group of boys hadn't reopened or gotten worse. "Luckily, the only thing I see is a good sized knot on the back of his head and nothing else, but I'm going to have to call his parents to come pick him up once he wakes" she says as she looks down at a Nurse Release Form that she has to fill out with each and every student that has to be sent home early.

Magnus, remembering what Alexander had said at the beginning of his odd rant about a "she-Dragon with smelly farts" quickly pieces together that he was talking about his Mother at that moment, and quickly decides to intervene just in case Alexander's Mother turns into the Dragon Lady like his love fears she will.

"Is there any way at all to release him to my parents and I? I fear for Alexander's safety at home should he return there this afternoon before school even ends" Magnus tells her trying to hopefully get her to see his side of things without really going into detail.

"Alexander has not indicated that he's being mentally, sexually, or emotionally abused by his parents so I can't call the cops on them nor can I release him to you and your parents as you aren't a blood relative," she tells him as she finishes filling the sheet out.

Slamming his open palm down on the side of Alexander she is on, "You can't know that, you haven't been to his house and you've barely even talked to him" Magnus growled to her now picking up his game in trying to get her to see his side of things.

The bold, cold, and unrepentant look she gives him is one that should've frozen his rage but didn't, "And you think you know Mr. Lightwood so well? You claim to love him, you parade around in your clothes like some sort of flamboyant sex god that everyone should bow to even him, and yet all you know is some little boy from ten years ago. Ten years, Magnus can change a person like him, a person that everyone desires to see fail in life yet he still struggles to hold himself up every day. I've known people like him, and many of them have fallen victim to the constant darkness looming over them and, I pray, that Alexander doesn't fall too."

What the Nurse said stung him deeply and, through gritted teeth, he says, "I know that this is an entirely different Alexander than to the little boy that I once claimed wasn't my friend but my wife. I'm trying to figure out the pieces to his puzzle, but the bigger picture hasn't become clear yet."

Turning and walking out of the room, he left the Nurse to do what she had too despite the constant objects going through Magnus' mind, right now, those thoughts had to take a backseat just so he could process the other information Alexander had blurted out in his rant to every one of their classmates.

Walking down the hallway, Magnus continued to decipher the meaning behind his one and only's rant as he made it back to English I, retook his seat, and zoned out what Miss Morgan was teaching.

It was going to be a long few hours.


	24. 9/11/2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A relapse and an unlikely friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sadly, when they talk about Kendrick, I had a friend back in Fifth grade who died the way he did and I miss him to this day. The wound never goes away, you're just able to handle to pain it holds better.

Waking up to a glaring Maryse Lightwood was one of the sights that Alec could live without in his life, the venomous words that next spewed from those frown set lips contained letters he wished he never learned, and the deep-seated wounds within his heart quickly found the stitches popping and the staples breaking in two as the woman that gave birth to him made him feel like he was so low that dust was better than he was.

"I can not for the life of me comprehend why you continue to disgrace this family, and no less than a week either. You and I are going home, we are going to have a long talk about obedience as well as learning when to keep our mouths shut, do you understand me?"

The snarl on the face of the once beautiful woman punctuated that he wasn't going to be talking at all - he was going to listen to every belittling insult that she throws at him and he will be forced to swallow them down as he stands there looking into her eyes like she always wants him too.

When being lectured and insulted by the woman he is forced to call Mother, he has to look her in her eyes so she knows that every word she says gets through to him, and every one of the words cuts him that much more.

She repeats herself sometimes saying that she wished her firstborn son had more of a backbone, that he studied his hardest, that he had friends in high standing, and that he was much more bodily fit.

Alec wishes he was all those things as well, but he wasn't and, with each cutting word from her, he mentally seals the cracks that'd started to form in the cocoon that he calls his home within his mind.

The cracks had been so beautiful, they'd shown so brightly with light breaking through, but the battle with his darkness had caused him unnecessary anguish from his family so he needs to seal them shut before anymore cracks form.

He can't allow himself to snap at his Mother, she wouldn't like that.

"Now get your backpack, and get in the car," she says after thirty minutes of just standing there lecturing him. Maryse Lightwood was only just getting started with Alec though, the black-haired woman could go on for a couple of hours.

"Y-Y-Ye..." he started to say, but the peeved look on her face spoke volumes about how much she didn't want to listen to his stuttering response so he snapped his mouth shut and did what he was told to do.

On the way home, Alec looked out the passenger side window wondering why, when he was just starting to feel positive emotions like an inkling of what love may be, and happiness that could throw him into a panic attack, that a force so negative that it overwrites those emotions reminds him of just how depressed, lonely, and hurt he is.

It seems that nobody but Magnus maybe cares about him, and it hurts him just thinking those words to himself. Nobody loves him besides just one person, how does a person live like this? How does a person move past the knowledge of knowing that most everyone around them doesn't give a crap about them?

Jace likes to put gum in his hair while he sleeps while Izzy likes to switch his shampoo out with hair dye just to say, "Now you look a little more like the fairy you are."

Maryse and Robert Lightwood look at him with nothing but scorn.

Right there in the car he starts to panic, and not from an overdose of endorphins, no, this is from the sheer knowledge of not knowing what love is because he's never been shown it, not knowing what a loving family is because his family is fucking up beyond all recognition, and the knowledge that the one person that gives a shit about him isn't there to help calm him down.

"Stop that right now, Alexander" Maryse snaps as she continues to drive.

"I-I-I ca-c-can-can't b-b-breathe" he wheezes out as his vision starts to blur and lag.

"Yes, you can. Stop acting like such a child" Maryse snaps at him again making him panic even further.

His body starts to thrash about in an attempt to get fresh air into his lungs, but nothing was working. Nothing was working as he finally released himself from the seatbelt, opened the passenger side door, and, due to Alec's sudden actions, Maryse immediately stops the car which aids in Alec's escape from the confines of the car.

Making it a little way away from the car, Alec dropped to his knees and throws up what little food was in his stomach. Tears dropping from his eyes, saliva dribbling from his mouth, and clutching his aching stomach, he was finally able to breathe.

Falling to his uninjured side, Alec stopped taking in deep breathes of air that he could finally feel around him rather than the stifling air inside of the car that Maryse Lightwood occupied.

His mind was still in a panic, but it was a controlled panic that seemed to be flickering from one thought to another with no real sense of it all, but one thought that kept rotating through was that he needed to see Brother Jeremiah.

He needed to be in the comforting presence of Raziel's light, but he also needed to be held by the one teenager that still loves him despite how he'd gone crazy in English I; it's like an innate feeling of knowing that Magnus would love him even though Alec had lost his mind for a time that day.

"Are you just going to lye on the sidewalk all afternoon or are you going to get up at some point?" came a cold, Hispanic voice from above him. Clearing his vision, his eyes adjusted enough to see Raphael Santiago's face staring down at him.

"G-G-Goi-Going t-t-to be-be her-here f-for a w-wh-w-whil-while" he responds back in a tone of voice he never tried to use before; a sarcastic and sassy tone of voice are beyond him when it comes to talking to someone, but it doesn't mean he couldn't try.

"Get up and walk with me," Raphael told him as he looked away from Alec's face and towards something Alec couldn't see. Not wanting to anger the stoic teen, he immediately does what he is told to do even though he didn't exactly want too.

"You made a fool out of yourself today in English I, the videos and pictures of you are already making the circuit around the school. By tomorrow you'll be the laughing stock of the entire Freshmen Class" Raphael told him as they both kept walking to an unknown destination.

"I-I-I kn-kn-know," Alec told him already starting to berate himself for making himself look so absent-minded and idiotic.

"For some of us, we're seeing a deeper meaning behind your words towards the end though."

"Who-wh-who is-is u-u-us?"

"Simon, Clary, and I along with a couple of others," Raphael tells him before stopping and standing in Alec's path forcing him to stop as well, "I might be Camille's right-hand man, but even I'm not heartless enough to go along with everything she does. Me Madre didn't raise me to look down on others who have already been knocked so far down they don't know how to get back up again."

"Smar-Smart wo-wo-wom-woman" Alec commented looking at him not getting why Raphael wanted to walk around with him.

"Me Madre also taught me that, eventually, all cocoons become butterflies with the right drive and encouragement," Raphael said looking into Alec's eyes as if knowing exactly how Alec viewed himself which would be absurd - no one knew just how depressed, alone, and hurt he felt on a daily basis.

"You're not ready to die yet, but any more of what you are currently going through and, eventually, something will have to give," the Hispanic teen says looking at him before looking down at the sidewalk, "Fifth grade, I was absent for two weeks, do you remember why?"

Alec, without saying a word, nodded his head remembering that a boy named Kendrick Rodriguez, Raphael's best friend since First grade, had died. The cause was never released to the students, but Raphael's absence had been noticed and everyone mourned the loss of one of their peers.

"The cause of Kendrick's death was never released, but I found out anyway when I overheard his Mom talking to mine. She said she didn't think a ten-year-old could get so depressed so quickly that he'd willingly take his own life. As they continued talking, I leaned against the wall and cried my eyes out that day."

Raphael sniffled as he thought back to his old best friend, "You never forget the people you lose to death, time doesn't make the wound go away, the wound just settles in and never closes. If you go the route that Kendrick took, you'll just be another wound that won't close, another face people mourn, and another person that lost the battle against their own darkness, fight your darkness and you'll eventually win out against it."

What Raphael said resonated within Alec to the point that it physically scared him. Just another wound that won't close? He couldn't do that to Magnus, he can't do that to anyone.

Stealing his resolve, he gives Raphael a sharp nodd before walking towards the direction of his house.

He needed to start planning on ways to fight against the darkness within him that threatened to pull him in the direction that Kendrick went - onto a path of self-destruction that would only end in pain.


	25. 9/11/2017 - Raphael's POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Into the mind of one of the background characters and the changes that'll start occurring in Alec's life in the coming chapters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No joke, this came to me last Tuesday and I've been waiting to post it ever since.

As Alexander Lightwood walked away from him, he couldn't help but feel like he needed to say something extra to the teenager that he'd help bully his entire life up to this point, but what could he possibly say without sounding like a pansy? What small comfort could he offer to someone who had, had to endure the constant social stigmatism that he never even earned in the first place?

"Alec!" he called out to him without really even meaning to, but did just so he could say, something before the teen was too far away to hear him.

As he turned around to look at him, Raphael stopped thinking of what he wanted to say and just said the first thing that came to his mind, "I'm sorry, for what I did to you all of these years. No doubt Kendrick is rolling in his grave for what I've been doing to you, and I don't expect your forgiveness" Raphael paused for a brief moment, "Just, I'm sorry."

Turning away himself, Raphael refused to hear anything that came out of the black-haired teen's mouth as he felt the response would've been too nice, and too accepting for what Raphael has done and allowed to be done throughout Alec Lightwood's life up to that point.

Without really meaning too, Raphael found himself walking to the cemetery that his best friend was buried in. Standing in front of where Kendrick was buried, he looked down at the epitaph on the headstone that says, "Gone, but never forgotten."

How true just those four simple words were, the Funeral Director said that many people put "Beloved son and friend" on their loved one's gravestones that they all start looking the same, which is why Raphael and Ms. Rodriguez chose those four words instead.

Malina Rodriguez was the only one of her family left living, and Kendrick had been her beacon of light in her suffocating darkness but she'd never realized that the darkness within Kendrick had killed him to the point he gave up on living thus leaving behind a Mother who doesn't even have the will to get up in the morning.

Malina just lays there motionless despite the tears that fall down her mourning face, and each afternoon Raphael finds himself taking care of her after classes have ended just so he can show her someone still cares about her; that the memories of her son were still alive even though he was absent from the world of the living.

He and his Madre were worried that one day Malina just won't wake up and that her broken heart would finally kill her. The stress she willingly deals with day in and day out is causing her breath to rasp, and noticeable pain upon her face is becoming visible.

At one point, she asked him, "Why am I allowed to live, and yet my son allowed to die?"

Raphael didn't know how to answer her, so he just sang her a Spanish lullaby to help lull her into some type of sleep so her body could heal a little bit from the constant stress she was under.

He wishes he knew the answers of the universe, but even his own actions couldn't be explained once he started bullying Alec after he'd come back from grieving for his best friend; maybe at the time, it was to make someone feel as bad as he did and the chubby child had just been there.

"I know what I did to Alec was beyond acceptable, and yet I still did it. I wanted someone to feel as sad and disappointed as I did when you'd died, but it hadn't been the right thing to do in the end. Alec hadn't deserved my hurtful words, and yet, I yelled at him, pushed him down, and did everything I could to make his life miserable."

Raphael, way past caring about his clothes getting dirty, sat down on the ground in front of where Kendrick laid, and let the tears start to fall, "Ever since I became friends with Simon and the red-head I've been thinking on a lot of past mistakes I've made, and bullying Alec Lightwood was one of them. People bullied you, and then I turned around and did the same thing to him without thinking about how much it hurt you."

"He's suffered for so long all because I did it and allowed it to happen," Raphael said looking down at the ground picking at the grass as some half-assed attempt to distract himself from the pain he was feeling in his heart over what he's been doing to someone else.

He hurt Alec to the point that he doesn't even know how to smile, he hasn't seen such an expression grace the teen's lips since Pre-School; after that Alec was picked on, teased, and bullied until he couldn't even talk without a stutter, and Raphael helped with that. Raphael helped shape Alexander Lightwood into the teenager he is today.

"You weren't the only one who did nothing to help him" came the forlorn voice of one Simon Lewis. He looked just as sad, unhappy, and depressed as Raphael did.

Standing up quickly and brushing his tears away, Raphael's cold tone of voice quickly snapped into place, "I don't know what you're talking about, Simon."

Raphael tried to look hard, cold, and disinterested around Simon along with his band of merry weirdos even when it was a fruitless effort while being around them.

It was like they were their own galaxy that didn't spin around Camille and her pitch black abyss that wished to suck everything around her in and then spit it back out looking like nothing, but space dust.

Tilting his head, Simon gave him a look that said, "Don't do this to me now", but Raphael steadfastly refused to acknowledge he'd been weak around someone. "Alec, he didn't deserve to be hurt by anyone nor allowed to be hurt by anyone, but we let it happen and we need to fix it. Help me fix it by trying to become his friend" Simon said looking up at Raphael.

Raphael didn't know what to say to the Jewish boy, but he knew that Simon was right about everything he said. Alec hadn't deserved anything that'd happened to him - he never did anything to cause himself to be bullied, ridiculed, or made fun of.

He'd just been there.

That was it, Alec had just been there and everyone had just turned on him after Pre-School.

Looking into the brown eyes that Simon sported, Raphael let one of his walls fall down just long enough to give him a slow nod of agreement. Alec didn't have any friends, so wanting to become one of the first two would do the depressed teen a world of good.

As both of them stood there, they knew that chess pieces were slowly moving into place where a brighter future was being created not only for them but for Alec as well.


	26. ~*~Interlude~*~

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up on Valentine's Day with the one you love most helps you realize all you've been through just to get to that point in time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With a brief appearance of Sebastian/Maia which may or may not become story canon.
> 
> Also, there might be more to come featuring different couples from the future of CYS(OFY).

~Nth Number of Years Into the Future~

February 14, 20--

Life ever since their days in high school have seen many loving ups alongside many miserable lows, but nothing and both of these gentlemen mean nothing, could tear them apart. High school had been hard on both of them, but they wouldn't give up those four terrifyingly arduous years for nothing.

Those four years saw Alec pull out of depression so dark that he didn't know just how far he'd fallen until he was able to pull himself back up into something of a normal life.

Sadly, he'd had to make some drastic changes in his life to get back to being in a healthy mental state, and the darkness still haunts him even now but he's learned to live with knowing that it'll never truly go away despite his best attempts so he rolls with the punches when they come, and he pulls himself back up to his feet no matter how hard it may seem at times.

Sometimes he just wants to lie in bed with the covers pulled up over his shoulders, and just watch NCIS on Netflix; that show somehow just helps him cope with his more milder form of depression now. Just watching Ducky tell stories of his own life experiences while Abby's gothic look brings back the nostalgia of his time when he tried it for a couple of years, much to Magnus' displeasure, and Gibbs being the Father figure he always wished he had.

Today, thankfully, wasn't one of the days Alec was getting a depression attack, no, the hand wrapped firmly around his hardening flesh was telling him to feel a much, much different sort of way. He shivers as a firm, tanned, chest was pressed against his back barely leaving any visible room between him and the man who held his heart in a chokehold.

"Good morning, my darling" came the whispered greeting of the sultry male from behind him.

"Good morning" Alec grumbled out in his sleep-weakened voice as each menstruation that Magnus did to his cock helped waken his mind, and subsequently, his body even more.

The firmness of Magnus' chest upon his back along with his sinful hand upon his cock just about made him cum right then and there, but Magnus knew how to play him like a fiddle by now so each change of angle stopped Alec from taking too much pleasure from what his husband was doing to him.

"You're playful this morning," Alec commented softly as he shifted his left leg up enough to give the Asian's other hand room to reach into his crevice with the subsequent gentle prodding of fingertips to test how loose he still was.

They'd had sex the previous night after sending their sons off to Sebastian and Maia's house, whom, only agreed to take them after making Alec and Magnus promise to come to their daughter's school production of Winnie the Pooh next Friday.

Agreeing adamantly, both men had "ran" (read: drove) home hurriedly just to start their passionate night like two newlyweds all over again; Alec remembers their wedding night, it was wild, rushed, and completely amazing all at the same time. The two days after their wedding was spent in their hotel room in a sexathon with no cares for the outside world - just the two of them enjoying the newlywed feeling and the utter bliss that came with it.

Moaning loud enough to be heard, but not to interrupt the quiet that was settled around them, Alec enjoyed the feeling of his husband's fingers teasing, poking, and prodding within his rectum all the way until his sweet spot was found and caressed with the expert fingertips of the man behind him who'd taken to kissing the back of his neck lovingly.

Neither said a word once the fingers were subtracted from Alec and a much meatier piece of flesh replaced them. Feeling Magnus breech his hole, he went even slacker than he had just been as a blissful sigh slipped from his parted lips.

Feeling the heated flesh slowly slipping inside of him, Alec enjoyed the feeling of being connected to Magnus once more in the time span of just two days. Days like this were rare for the both of them as, after starting a proper family four years ago, they haven't had much time to fit a healthy sex life into their schedule, but "healthy sex life" or not, they both knew the other loved them deeply and that's all that seemed to matter to the both of them.

They didn't need sex once a week just to know that Alec loved Magnus or Magnus loved Alec, all they needed was to share a bed, subtle touches, and the press of lips in a good morning or good night kiss (and maybe some stolen during the day when Rafael and Max weren't looking.)

As Magnus reached the hilt of his heated flesh, he brought himself up just enough to whisper, "I love you, Alexander. You're so perfect, so beautiful, so loving, and trusting; I don't know how I got so lucky to have you in my life, to be married to you, to have two beautiful children with you, and to be able to hold you at night when you sleep. Gods, you're so amazing that I'm constantly blown away by how kindhearted, loving, and caring you are. What'd I do to deserve you, huh? What did I do to get to hold you in my arms? I don't know, but whatever it is I refuse to let it have you back."

Magnus' words hit Alec like a Mac truck because Alec wonders the same thing constantly when he sees Magnus putting his makeup on in the morning, when he's getting ready for a party, or when he's coming home exhausted after a long day planning parties for other people.

Alec can't help but wonder though he knows, the trials and tribulations the both of them had gone through made it all worth it in the end.

Turning his head towards Magnus', he plants a soft and loving kiss upon his rose pink lips with his left arm lifts up to cup the back of his loves mussed up hair that'd, no doubt, look picture perfect when they went to pick up their sons in a couple of hours for now, however, it will be the sex hair that Alec had artfully created all night long.

Feeling Magnus start to move in and out of him, Alec raised his left leg invitingly allowing it to come to rest on Magnus' left hand as it took the opportunity Alec had given him to drive his slow, languid thrusts into deeper parts of his body.

With each thrust came a small flame of pleasure that shot through Alec's veins continuously over and over again, and with each burst, Alec drew closer to an orgasm that wouldn't mind taking its time to come; morning sex with Magnus was never about the both of them screaming about how good the sex was nor was it about taking Alec apart so perfectly he couldn't tell if he was at thehead of their bed or at the foot of it, no, it was about how Magnus told him, through his body, that Alec was loved and cared for.

How many long years had Alec not felt both of those things? Now look at him, he had both and more. He was very near tears as he thought how far along he'd come from being a kid who didn't know what being loved felt like nor how to love someone else, how scared he was to become a father to a little boy he had no business trying to be a father too, and getting married to the most perfect man who could've done so much better, and yet, chose Alec against all odds.

He was blessed, he was blessed by the Angel somehow, and he didn't know how to repay the omnipotent being in any way other than to continue to cherish the life he'd been given; he will never regret kissing Magnus back in Freshman year of high school nor will he regret agreeing to marry him.

He will regret nothing that he's been through with Magnus and, as they both reached their climax together, he remembers what day it is.

"Magnus?"

"Hmm?"

"Happy Valentine's Day."

"Happy Valentine's Day, my wife."


	27. Tues - 9/12/17 - Simon's POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Simon has a game plan to become Alec's first, real, friend. Operation: Alec is a go!

Being a nerd in school isn't the easiest thing in the world, but trying to become the first friend of Alexander Gideon Lightwood, the boy everyone picks on and nobody wants to be near? Yeah, that's like trying to climb Mount Everest without snow gear and freezing to death a foot up.

Simon has to take the approach very cautiously, very thought out, and planned with each step in mind otherwise Alec will just run off and not want to talk to him...ever.

Is Simon treating his fellow classmate like a skittish dog? Why, yes, yes he is and he isn't afraid to admit it because that's, basically, what Alec is down to his core. The guy is so frightened of his own shadow due to all the bullying, teasing, and whatnot that he doesn't know the light at the end of a tunnel from the shadow of a flickering flame.

Simon and Raphael seem to be the only ones willing to admit, at this point in time, that Alec's life is a living hell even with Magnus trying to help the guy out.

Magnus is being good for Alec, but it's only a matter of time before Alec's skittishness returns; a person doesn't cure depression and years of hurt in just a few days time - a person's mental state doesn't work like that.

It could take years before Alec can forgive what has happened to him in his life thus far, but the depression will remain. If Simon could do a 180 on Alec's life, he'd do it right now, but unfortunately, he just can't.

Staring at Alec from a few feet down the hall on Tuesday morning, Simon knew his first plan of attack: greet Alec any time the two are in the same vicinity of each other in order to get the teen used to being talked to by someone not wanting to call him bad names or to hurt him in any way.

Gripping the straps of his backpack firmly with a deep breath going in his nose and out of his mouth, he attacked. Raphael will come in after him so as to not frighten Alec too much too soon.

Making his projected path to World Geography mapped out in his mind with a quick stop over to Alec, he walked his path with some of his classmates walking in front of him but never deterring him from his mission.

That's what this was, after all, a very important mission that will gain him a few experience points in the "Become Friends with Alec" quest that will determine the outcome of his entire Freshman Year henceforth (Raphael hates it when Simon talks nerd-speak.)

Arriving at his first point of origin, Simon says in a friendly tone of voice, "Hey Alec."

Alec, who slowly turns around looks at him with wide eyes for a moment and stutters out a greeting to him. Simon, smiling at him encouragingly, goes to his World Geography class that was just diagonal from where Alec was standing.

The first objective accomplished, he just now needs to make it to the next one. Whenever the next one was, he must prepare himself as it is now Raphael's turn to greet the teen who will, hopefully, feel less threatened by the cold-exteriored teenager.

Everyone who was anyone with more than two brain cells knew that Raphael was all bark and no bite when it came to being seemingly emotionless. Simon noticed it after Raphael started building up his see-through walls back in Fifth grade, and has long since wished to slash down those walls so he can get to the loving boy underneath, alas, he hasn't made a move yet.

That mission required a higher level of confidence that Simon just doesn't possess at this point in time, but he will try one day just, you know, not right now.

Call him chicken shit all you very well want, but when it comes to attractive people Simon's head goes on red alert and he can't even stutter let alone speak to them; true story, he's actually run away from Raphael before back in Third grade all because he asked to borrow one of Simon's pencils.

Silently singing the first verse of Mr. Lonely by Bobby Vinton, he takes his seat as the classroom starts to fill in with the rest of his peers who were talking to one another about boys, notes, gum, and whatever else they can come up with at that time while his mind was stuck in an endless loop of "I wish Raphael would look at me" and "I hope I didn't scare Alec too much".

"Mr. Lewis, are you paying attention?" came Mr. Rodriguez's voice.

Simon's brain to mouth filter not currently functioning, he replies with an honest, "No." He immediately wants to bang his head against his desk, but refrains due to not wanting to look any more stupid to the people currently present.

The disappointed look on the teachers face is enough to shame him into opening his textbook, get out a pad of paper, and then proceed to start paying attention despite how his mind is still buzzing with thoughts not pertaining to anything that resembled the land mass.

He seriously hopes he didn't freak Alec out too much.


	28. 9/12/17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Magnus goes to defend Alexander against a bully, but is surprised by what happens next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can see, I have decided to turn this into a series. The series will contain more snapshots of Magnus and Alec's lives in the future so I don't have to interrupt the flow of the story.
> 
> And, yes, one such snapshot will be up soon so look out for it ;D

Time has passed by so quickly since Alexander and he were kids, sometimes, like early in the morning, Magnus wished he could rewind time and go back to when his Dad had gotten that job offer in California and beg him harder than he had to not take it; he should've tried harder, but what could a child do against a grown man trying to provide for his family?

What can a step-father possibly do in a job that wasn't paying enough money for him to stay in a two bedroom apartment in Brooklyn Heights?

Magnus had known at that time, and every time since, that he was just trying to do what he must to take care of his depressed wife, and son who wasn't even his own blood. The man, though he loved Magnus dearly, had wished for a child of his own despite knowing he'd never be granted his wish.

Magnus would never regret his Mom marrying him, but Magnus still holds a little resentment when, looking at the only picture of him and Alexander as children, brought back the tearful memories of his departing from the one boy he loved most.

As Magnus smeared on sandalwood lotion upon his right arm, he looked at the picture on his nightstand of Magnus hanging onto Alexander while his beautiful wife smiled happily at the camera with a wide grin on his face; a face unmarred by the cruelties of being bullied, unloved, and generally the hate pushed on him despite him not even deserving it.

Those times were so much simpler, those were the times where Magnus only had to worry about Alexander eating enough and trying to prevent him from eating glue.

Where they cuddled together during nap time content with knowing the other was just an inch away from them if a nightmare started to disrupt their sleep.

Those days were absolutely perfect in Magnus' eyes and he wouldn't trade them for the world, he wouldn't trade them for fame and fortune, but he would trade them for the day that he could create that one memory for the day his Alexander became officially his.

To say that Magnus had already planned their wedding was an understatement, he'd decided as a child that he and Alexander would marry during the spring as Alexander expressed a love of the different temperatures of rain that it made; it could go from cold to warm, temperate to sheets, a nice drizzle for porch sitting to the ability to dance in it. Alexander loved everything about spring with the flowers being ready to bloom and bring color to the world, and he simply couldn't pick his most favorite color of them all.

Alexander was a special soul back then that was unaffected by the pokes and prods of the children around him because he had Magnus back then, but Magnus was forced to move away and Alexander's bright soul grew dark.

As Magnus moved to his vanity to start putting his makeup on for the day, he started with primer for his face to start everything off as his mind went to other thoughts that were roaming through his head like the hope that Alexander would be back in school after a long night of rest and relaxation.

Magnus has seen the countless videos and pictures taken of Alexander spouting off to the class in his sleep-deprived haze, and people were ready to make even more fun of him. They were ready to ridicule him beyond what they usually do all because he bared his true feelings and his classmate's true intentions against him.

Alexander knew he was going to be made fun of for what he did, but he hadn't cared at the moment as he seemed to be fed up with the lot of them and what they were doing to him - not that Magnus could blame him.

With a heavy sigh that was more just a gust of air exiting from his mouth, he got up to put his clothes on, kissed his Mom goodbye, and then went to school like he always did during the week.

When he arrived and went inside the building, he could just smell the change in the air like a rancid perfume that just shouldn't have a smell of its own, but it did and it was pointed towards the teen that was constantly being shoved into lockers and walls as he tried to walk down the hallway but was getting nowhere quickly.

When a random male teen said loudly, "Hey, Fatwood! How 'bout you suck this cock and see how a real guy tastes!" It set Magnus off as quickened his walk, but he didn't make it very far until Raphael Santiago, of all teens, slammed the asshole into the brick wall behind him hard allowing Alexander to escape to his locker right across from the World Geography classroom.

The growled response from Raphael said it all to the teens looking on hoping for a fight between the two, "How about you keep your mouth shut before you find your teeth all over the linoleum floor? Comprende?" the cold teen threatened knowing that, though he couldn't actually knock all of his teeth out, he'd sure as hell try.

Magnus was alarmed and slightly confused as to why Raphael Santiago, Camille Belcourt's right-hand man, was defending Alexander all of a sudden but when he spied a smiling Simon Lewis walking up to Alexander, he grew suspicious.

Why were people suddenly defending and being nice to Alexander? What were their motives? What could they gain from being nice to Alexander all of a sudden? And what will happen when they get the rewards they were looking for?

Magnus knew he had to keep an eye on both Jewish and Hispanic teens as he tries to find out what they were trying to accomplish for now, however, he had to figure out what Manuel Raskin's deepest secret is.

And so the plot thickens as Magnus and Alexander's lives start to slowly change.


	29. Wed - 9/13/17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we see Alec be a little confident in himself while trying to deal with the sudden changes in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a good two weeks overdue, but I can blame the want of trying to write out the first part of Alec's future life, then catching up on the Marvel movies, then my head switching ships, and those are my excuses to you guys.
> 
> I am so, so, so sorry that I did that to you guys, but I can definitely tell you now I'll be updating today and tomorrow with the past chapters I haven't written all leading up to D-Day when our boys on television come back to grace us with their magnificence ^ ^

It wasn't the first time in Alec's, yet short life, that all he wanted to do was stay in bed and hope the world ended in the next couple of minutes, but his wishes were always dashed by the sound of his alarm clock, the blaring music from Jace's room, and the screaming that Isabelle didn't realize was unneeded this early in the morning.

The life of the oldest brother of two younger siblings couldn't be more aggravating giving that he'd rather have them actually like him versus them wanting to knock him off his small seat of happiness every chance they got which is why Alec took to trying to ignore them completely over the weekend.

It'd been easy really as they all had separate bathrooms, Alec had snacks in his room that he hid for just the ability to not come out when he was hungry, and, the lamp on his nightstand gave off enough light for him to read or draw but not enough to give his siblings invitation to barge into his room whenever they felt like it.

Also, the newly installed lock he bought on Monday helped as well as it was his first little act of rebellion towards his entire family; it was a small step towards being someone that just wasn't going to put up with his family crap anymore if he had any say about it.

A solid wooden door between him and them made him feel more safe and comfortable versus Isabelle coming in to unexpectedly shower him with glitter whenever she wanted him to look like "the fairy he is", and it dissuaded Jace from coming in to put various food condiments into his hair just to have a cheap laugh.

After getting ready in a Disturbed band tee that was baggy enough to cover up his torso, baggy jeans that hid his larger lower half, and then adding a jacket to top it all off, he looked himself in the mirror with an innocent look on his face hoping beyond hope that everyone forgot about his little spout Monday when he completely just let himself go.

He'd meant every last word of it, but it was so embarrassing to know that he'd let everyone have it without much thought that maybe he shouldn't say the things he did alas, his filter had broken between his brain and mouth when he was just talking without how he was a ghost to everyone, and that they could never have what he has right now.

It was a ballsy move to say he had the hottest guy in school when, really, Magnus could just be using him; logically speaking, that was complete garbage because Magnus has been showing him time and time again that he legitimately wanted Alec for far more than a quick hula dance between the sheets.

Alec's insecurities told him something completely different, however, and it was forcing Alec to stop from truly pursuing what Magnus wanted to give him thus leaving Alec wanting to return everything Magnus has been giving him up until now.

Walking out of his room, not saying a word to the two younger teens trying to throw barbs at him, he goes down to the kitchen, pointedly ignores his Mother and Father as well, as he grabbed an apple before making his way to the front door of his home still ignoring his collective household like they were the ghosts that Alec had compared himself to with his peers, and made his way off to school.

He'd rather walk today than to talk to the She-Demon that was his Mother or the cheating asshole that was his Father; when you're seen as nothing but a ghost that is only wanted when you need to be "put in your place" you tend to see a lot more than others do. Alec's bared witness to Robert Marcus Lightwood cheating on his wife in the very bed both of them slept in.

It was disgusting, it was cruel, and it was a secret that Alec decided to keep from his Mother until he got the courage to use it. Even though his Mother was a hateful and cruel woman towards him, he was not willing to become what she and her husband have become by this point in their marriage - he refused to become someone hateful despite all the hate directed at him, and the hate he has for who he currently is.

As he walked to school, he munched on his apple thinking of what could possibly happen at school. Yesterday had been a shock when Simon Lewis had greeted him out of nowhere along with Raphael Santiago defending him against a guy that had told him to "suck his cock".

Alec just can't believe that two people who had ignored him and bullied him decided to just suddenly be nice to him; yeah Monday Raphael talked to him about what happened with his former best friend Kendrick, but he thought the Hispanic teen would just eventually start ignoring him like Simon had been doing, but the both of them had shocked Alec for the entire day with every greeting they'd given him.

Even at one point, Raphael asked if he was okay with what had happened before First Period like he was genuinely concerned for Alec's wellbeing, and he'd willingly stood there as Alec had stuttered out that he was fine, and that nothing life altering had happened that he'd need to be upset about.

The teen had been suspended for sexual harassment for two months all because his comment had been heard by a couple of teachers monitoring the hallway; being a high school Freshman was starting to become very overwhelming as peoples moods about him seem to suddenly be changing with Magnus coming back into his life.

He needed a breather, and the walk to school was exactly what he needed in order to put his head back together while coping with the newest developments in his life.


	30. 9/13/17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Magnus talks to one of his best friends from California, and his doubts start to show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went full on Polyvore mode for this chapter just so I could visualize what he and his friend were going to wear. Here are their outfits so you can see them:  
> [Magnus' Outfit](https://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=236860432)  
> [Bele's Outfit](https://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=236861822)

"Girl! You can't possibly say that to me, down the phone, while I'm getting ready for school!" Magnus exclaimed to his friend as he pulled out a red, longsleeved top with a couple of buttons at the top. From experience, he knew it was a casual shirt that fit his torso and arms like a glove, and it was one he rarely wore if he wanted to go for a more effortless look rather than one that called for more than a few necklaces to go with it.

Throwing it only the bed, he searched for the black biker jeans with the double zippers above and below the knees so he could match them with the shirt. Picking out the white zipper jacket that was popular in Japanese couture, he picked up his ankle-high boots that finished off the outfit completing it with a few necklaces that he'd wear to accent his neck and chest in a flirty way without overdoing it.

_"Oh, please, Magnus you haven't shut up about your Kindergarten crush since you came to California. It's not like he's the only fish in the sea you know."_

"He's the only fish for me, Bele. Even if he suddenly went bald, grew a snaggle tooth, and started talking like a Hillbilly, I'd still want him. He's my perfect match, and I was just happy I found him when we were only five-years-old."

_"I heard Amy talking about how a friend of hers in New York sent a video of him ripping your guys' English one class a new asshole while sleep deprived, how'd that go for him once he openly admitted he was gay without really thinking about it?"_

Putting his phone down so he could change out of his silk dress robe, he answered, "It was hard for him yesterday, on top of people making fun of him even more than usual, he had to contend with Simon Lewis and Raphael Santiago being nice to him. It's very suspicious if you as me."

_"Or, maybe, they are trying to be his friend due to the fact he told everyone that they only ever acknowledge him whenever they're wanting to make fun of him."_

"Why now? Why not sooner when it could've prevented him from becoming anti-social and have stuttering problems that need to be fixed through speech therapy?" he asked her as he pulled on the pants that hugged his legs like a second skin.

_"They have to be feeling like shit after ignoring and bullying him for years on end, they must be trying to make amends with him in order to help him have more friends for whatever is going to happen in his future or something like that - they must be sensing something you're not...wouldn't be surprised since you're such an airhead."_

"I resemble that remark" Magnus snarked back at her as he picked up his phone after getting his shirt on.

_"Honey, love, dollface, we both know that's not true. Friendsperacies aside, I suggest you just observe how they are around him, could be they indeed, do, feel like shit and want to be his friend now or, if worse comes to worse, they could be building up for a big prank of some kind on him."_

"It'd be something Camille would ask her right-hand guy to do in a situation like this. Alexander, having spilled his guts to our English class, has videos and texts about him that spread like a wildfire that could be altered in some way, and the next thing people know, Raphael Santiago is trying to play friend only to turn around and pull a Carrie on him."

_"Too bad your boo hasn't shown any type of psychic powers yet or it'd be just that. Anyways, I need to start getting ready for school."_

"Why so early darling?" he asks as he finishes the touches on his eyeliner before he started on his eyeshadow that'd be a bold black that'd make his green and gold eye scream "Look at me!"

_"Oh, you know, Bobby Gordon and I are totally going to breakfast this morning and I need to make sure I look hot for him when he gets here."_

Magnus let out a sudden scream before saying, "You did not just say Senior Captain of the Football team Bobby Gordon is coming to your house to pick you up so you can go to breakfast before school together!"

_"He is! Oh my angel, Magnus, what do I wear?!?"_ she screamed back to him as he heard her rummaging around somewhere, probably her closet, as she tried to look for something to wear.

"OK, OK, calm down. Remember that time Bobby said he wanted to be an astronaut, but believed he couldn't because he's always been bad at Science?" Magnus asks her as he stands up and starts pacing around his room a little bit as he remembers what's in his best friends closet.

_"Yeah, wait, you're thinking my Galaxy outfit, right? Complete with my chucks?"_

"Yes, that'll get his head thinking that maybe he does, have a chance at getting into that aeronautics program he was thinking of applying for after high school. You could very well usher him back to the profession he's been wanting to get into all his life."

_"Yeah, but what if he totally takes it as a sign I'm trying too hard? I don't want him to jump ship before the ship sails."_

"Hm, true, but it can't hurt to try and see. After all, you are the one in this equation that has more than a snowball's chance in hell on getting into an actual relationship with the guy you like" Magnus tells her as he briefly allows himself a moment of self-pity.

_"Hey, hey, hey, your boy could be trying to climb the unbelievably steep cliff in front of himself. After all, he let you kiss him already, so I'd call that a win"_ she tells him like it was the best thing he could get right at that point with Alexander.

In a moment of darkness, he tells her, "Sometimes I wish Alexander was more confident in himself, that he was a completely different person altogether. At least then it'd be easier to get closer to him faster."

_"And this is where Magnus Andreas Bane stops feeling sorry for himself and gets back to trying to help his boy in any way possible, because the Magnus Andreas Bane I know, doesn't allow himself to wallow in self-pity all due to the fact that a fight is a bit harder than he'd predicted."_

Rubbing his face a bit, he admits to himself and Bele that she was right - he can't allow himself to give up the fight so easily just because Alexander didn't turn out who Magnus hoped he'd be, and it's only been two weeks into the school year; a person can't change in such a short amount of time, but progress can start being built during that time and, Magnus guessed, Alexander was trying his hardest to better himself.

"You're right, you're always right."

_"Thank you, I know, I'm the best."_

"So modest," he told her jokingly with a smile on his face as he laughs with her.

_"Well, someone has to make sure you don't go belly up in the fight to get your one true love. I know I can't be there physically, but I'm always a phone call away, doll."_

With a loving smile on his face, Magnus looks down at the floor saying, "I love you, darling."

_"I know."_

"Oh angel, you've been watching those deplorable Star Wars movies with Amy again, haven't you?"

A fake gasp was heard down the line as Bele says, _"Magnus! You wound me!"_

"You were the one who betrayed me that time I went over to your house and you forced me to watch those horrid movies based on a galaxy far far away!"

_"Hey! I wasn't the one that changed all my ringtones to the Duck Song, okay? That was all you!"_

Magnus paused as he was just finishing up his makeup with a bit of clear chapstick as he sat there like his mind was stuck on completely denying it or shamefully admitting it so, instead of doing one or the either he said to her, "I please the fifth."

__"_ It was you, you asshole! You took a picture after doing it!" _she accused him as she shuffled on the other line, presumably putting her chosen outfit on.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that, my special little dove."

_"Confirm nor deny that, my left foot. Oh well, but seriously, I need to go brush my teeth and do my makeup. I'll talk to you later, my lovely one."_

"Bye, dollface."

Magnus hung up his phone as he finally sees it's time to go to school, but, for another rare moment, he thinks about how much easier it'd be if he just stopped trying to be with Alexander, but, with the coming of the next moment, he pushed the thought away.

Doubts and regrets are a part of trying to be in a relationship with someone who hasn't experienced positive reinforcement in their lives so he had to just push past any doubts or regrets he has in order to be with the one he loves most.

After all, if he gave up now, what would that tell Alexander?


	31. 9/13/17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Alec deals with more humiliation, and the unexpectedness of feeling more from Magnus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! I am all caught up! I hope you all like the latest chapter, and I will see you next Tuesday!

As Alec opens one of the double doors to Idris High, he mentally prepares himself for the insults that'll be thrown his way as he makes his way to his locker.

Taking mental deep breaths, he arrives at the steel door, put in his combination, and then it pops open of its own accord with a cascade of dildos of various sizes and lengths spilling out of it.

First came shock, and then came the humiliation of just what transpired so early in the day; he'd hoped everyone could've just conveniently forgotten what he'd said at the end of the last week, but it seems that wasn't going to happen as he now was standing with a pile of dildos in front of him.

The shameful blush gracing his face was the least of his worries as tears filled his eyes at the sight before him, "Wow, Thickwood, didn't expect that to be in your locker. Guess Magnus' dick must not satisfy that hungry ass hole of yours."

The venomous viper vilified as she viciously tore into Alec like a variation of her favorite dessert with a pleased grin on her face from just the sight she was witnessing as his tears leaked out from his eyes without him even wanting them too.

"Oh, look everyone! The whore is crying! I guess he shouldn't have brought all of his dildos to school if he didn't want them popping out of his locker!" she exclaimed grabbing everyone's attention that surrounded the both of them.

As everyone turned to bear witness to the clear act of abuse, taking out their cell phones even, Camille continued on making a show of Alec's complete humiliation, "I think we should all take turns showing him a good time, what do you say?"

"I say, that's enough!" Simon called out from Alec's left making him look up to see the glasses-wearing teen looking at the brunette furiously. Simon looked like he was ready to punch Camille in the face for all the things she'd just said about Alec, and Alec was completely stunned by how willingly Simon was ready to stand up for him.

"This? This is crossing the line, Camille" Simon tells her as he moves towards her only to be blocked by Jonathan Morgenstern who pushes him down to the floor.

"What are you going to do about it, Four Eyes?" Jonathan challenged the Jewish teen looking down at him like he was ready to put him in the same hospital that Alec had been rushed too after he'd been beaten up.

"How original" Simon said in a cutting tone as he started to bring himself up from the floor only to have Jonathan's foot stomp down on his ribs in order to keep him where he had just been.

"You know what I hate? Little weaklings like you trying to play the hero when, in reality, you're lower than the dirt I walk on" Jonathan says keeping his foot planted on Simon not allowing the other teen to move.

Out of nowhere, Jonathan is grabbed by his neck with Raphael standing behind him. "That's enough, don't you think?" his cold tone of voice said to the blonde teen who, in turn, threw an elbow at his face. The Hispanic teen, caught off-guard by the action, released the teen's neck in order to check to see if his nose was broken.

This was happening way too quickly for Alec to really grasp as he tried to piece together why Simon and Raphael were coming to his defense and then the obvious change of person being bullied by Camille and Jonathan; it was like they were taking the focus off of him for a specific reason.

"Alexander, come on," came the whispered voice of Magnus as he pulled lightly on Alec's arm. Turning his head towards the Asian teen he has undoubtedly become infatuated with, he allowed the teen to pull him into the crowd away from the spotlight that'd just been diverted from himself.

It wasn't a second too late as well as Mr. Rodriguez came to break up the fight that had just broken out between Jonathan and Raphael who had gone to blows after the elbow Raphael had taken to the face.

Sufficed to say, Alec wasn't going to be challenging Raphael to a fight anytime soon as he took Jonathan down easily.

As the both of them rounded the corner to the Sophomore hallway, Magnus turned to look at Alec and immediately took his face into his hands looking at him with such a loving expression on his face, "I'm sorry I wasn't there sooner."

Shaking his head, Alec was trying to tell him that it was okay, that Alec didn't expect him to always be there to defend him, and that Alec had to try to do it for himself no matter how ashamed, afraid, and hurt he was in that moment of time.

But Magnus was having none of it as he brought Alec into a surprise kiss right there in the hallway where any of the teens around them could see, could make fun of them, or could ruin Magnus' reputation even further than it was.

The kiss itself, however, felt so good to Alec, it was like he was breathing again, like something in him was awakening once more and it was just waiting for something more to happen; Alec didn't know what it was but the darkness constantly surrounding him seemed to recede a bit with every touch Magnus gifted him and Alec wanted nothing more than continue to feel these happy feelings from the Asian teen.

With every brush of his lips, Alec's skin tingled in such a good way, the goosebumps were the same he'd experienced with their first kiss, but this time Alec didn't feel like a surprise panic attack was going to spring up but the intensity of Magnus' emotions through the kiss was threatening to overwhelm his own as he finally pulled away.

He didn't know when his arms had wrapped around Magnus' shoulders, he didn't know when the heat from Magnus' hands left his face and went to his waist, but he did know that the dizzy feeling in his head was due to all the endorphins zinging through his brain right then as he opened his hazy eyes just to look into Magnus' own.

"Wow" was all Alec could bring himself to whisper as he looked into the green and gold eyes of the teen who'd just taken his breathe away once more from such a simple act of a kiss.

If that was what he looked forward too in the future, he'd readily kiss Magnus every second of every day after such a bad experience happened to him; hell, he'd even cause them if only Magnus would kiss him in such an enchanting way.


	32. 9/13/17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Authoress only wrote fluff and sarcasm. You're welcome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A new snippet of Magnus and Alec's life is up for you to read in the series!

Opening his eyes was like all of Magnus' previous doubts from that morning faded away as he looked into Alexander's slitted eyes that were clouded with nothing but maybe love and a hint of contentment that stemmed from having just been kissed by the person he liked while Magnus felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders in that one enchanting moment.

Wanting more, he dived into another kiss that ignited his very core and made him want to fight for his loved one even more than he had been in the previous weeks just to show Alexander that he can be that strong person he wants to be if only he fights for it.

Brushing his lips across his beloved's was like teaching him how to kiss while also taking lessons for the one teenager that he'd always wanted to do this with.

Yes, their first kisses were rather explosive (both emotionally and mentally for Alexander), but it hadn't been enough for Magnus to just be okay with and move onto someone new, no, he'd felt like a starved man out in the Sahara Desert looking for that oasis he'd been able to drink from once before but being constantly denied until this very moment.

He didn't care if his breathing was slowly becoming labored, he didn't care that his inexperienced lips were slowly becoming spit slick, he didn't even care about the crowd around the both of them taking pictures, gossiping about them, or anything like that because he had the most gorgeous person in the entire school kissing him right there after such a crippling humiliation that had the tables turned when Simon and Raphael got in the middle of it.

As Magnus pulled away from Alexander's mouth once more, he pushed the foreheads together as their labored breaths synced together and their eyes didn't dare stray from the other.

Magnus hoped that, whatever emotions his beautiful wife got from their connection, he'd take to heart as Magnus tried to communicate that he wasn't letting go of him anytime soon while hoping Alexander wasn't letting go of him anywhere in the near future either.

If Magnus was going with what his wild, teenage hormones were saying, they were telling him that he'd love to be married to his raven-haired beauty right after they got out of high school.

He'd known for years that Alexander Gideon Lightwood was it for him; if he could've married him in Kindergarten after announcing to the teacher that Alexander was his wife, he would've.

Come to think of it, he vaguely remembers a chicken ring wedding ring at some point during that year, that or it was one of the girl's bracelets that Magnus asked to borrow but never gave back; he couldn't remember at that exact moment, but if it was the bracelet, he hopes Alexander kept it as it would've been the only thing he had of Magnus.

"How cute, you both are so sickeningly sweet I'm getting a cavity" came a very familiar British tone of voice that made Magnus look up to see Alexander's Speech Therapist, Mr. Fell, standing there with an expression that read pure and utter boredom with the both of them.

Surprisingly, Alexander snapped back at him before Magnus could, "Y-You-You're j-jus-just jea-j-jeal-jealous, ol-o-old m-m-man."

The surprise that appeared on both of their faces made Alexander's cheeks redden again and, without further ado, grabbed Magnus' shirt and pushed his face right into his chest. Surprised by this as well, Magnus wrapped his arms around his loves waist and pulled him close as if to help Alexander in his embarrassment.

Mr. Fell, finally free of his shock, said, "Well, whenever you two stop being conjoined at the chest, Mr. Garroway wishes to speak with the both of you."

Both nodding in agreement, the British man finally walked off finding a few other teenagers to bug leaving them alone in their bubble once more.


	33. 9/13/17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet the fatherly figure we all know and love, and a she-demon who rocks Alec's and Magnus' lives to the core.

"We should get to Mr. Garroway's office" Magnus mutters to him as their foreheads stay connected - neither one of them wanting to break the bubble that had reformed around them once Mr. Fell had made his exit.

"Y-Ye-Yeah" Alec whispered to him desperately wanting to kiss Magnus' lips again but knew they had little time now to do what he wants most. On the plus side of things, he knew Mr. Garroway was a lot nicer than Ms. Herondale as he'd seen her give out detentions just to couples holding hands; it was a blatant miracle that she hasn't caught Magnus and Alec yet during their escapes around the school building.

It was only a matter of time until the woman comes down on them and they'd rather this not be one of them so they separated from one another as they started towards Mr. Garroway's office.

Mr. Lucian "Call me Luke" Garroway was the Vice Principal of Idris High and was the kindest man as many of the Upperclassman have said as he was a fairer person than Ms. Imogen Herondale was. Mr. Garroway threw the book at you if you deserved it, but would always understand if you were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Right now, Alec was shit scared if the man would back Camille and Jonathan like Ms. Herondale had after Jonathan had beat him senseless all for the sake of the funding that Mrs. Morgenstern was giving the school. If Jonathan and Camille were allowed to get away with one more incident against him, then it'd truly show what Idris High was made of to him.

It'd show that bullies were allowed to get away with anything just because their parents were giving the school money; if this turned out to be true, Alec would have no choice but to deal with every bad circumstance that was flung his way for the next four years, and he didn't think he could deal with any more of the torment.

Stopping outside of the wooden door, Magnus knocked on it as he took Alec's hand into his own. This time, they could risk it all for the sake of already being in one of the rooms teens go to if they are in trouble.

"Come in" came the strong voice of authority from behind the door. Magnus opening it, he walked in and pulled Alec in with him.

"You wanted to speak to us, sir?" Magnus asked as he took the seat closest to the wall while Alec took the one closest to the door in front of Mr. Garroway's desk.

The room was nearly spartan except for a few photo's and metals that were hung up and put on a shelf situated behind the dark-skinned male. "Yes, I wanted to get Mr. Lightwood's side of the story about what happened in the Freshman Hallway, and I wanted to know why you pulled him away once Mr. Santiago and Mr. Morgenstern started trading blows" Mr. Garroway said looking at them both critically like any answer they give will be evaluated and a punishment dealt based on what he knew and heard.

"Due to Alec's stutter, may he be excused from answering?" Magnus asked the man wanting to save Alec the embarrassment of having to stutter out a response to his question.

Unfortunately, Alec wasn't given that leniency, "I'm sorry, Magnus, but I need to hear his account with his words of what happened." Mr. Garroway's face turned to that of fatherly understanding while keeping the critical look in his eyes, he wasn't about to cut corners on a fight and what occurred before it just to save one of the students from making a fool of themselves with their speech impediment.

Magnus looked over at Alec as if silently asking if he was okay with continuing and answering Mr. Garroway's inquiry. With a nod of his head as Alec turned to look at him, he turned back to Mr. Garroway to start his stuttered response.

"I-I-I h-had ju-j-j-just g-go-gott-gotten to-to sc-sch-school, a-an-and I w-was op-open-opening m-my l-l-lock-locker when-when i-it p-p-pop-popped op-open on it-it's ow-ow-own sp-spew-spewing ou-ou-out the-the y-y-you kn-kno-know" Alec tried to explain around his stutter only managing to get one word out of the twenty-four he'd said to come out clearly. He didn't know if he'd count that as a win or not as he'd tried to do more of them, but it just hadn't happened.

"Alright, and what happened next?" Mr. Garroway inquired after mentally piecing Alec's explanation together in his head. His expression was ever the critical, but fatherly face that he had shown after Magnus asked to exempt Alec from having to re-count the details that happened.

"Ca-Ca-Cam-Camil-Camille B-Be-Bel-Belco-Belcourt s-s-sa-said tha-tha-that..." Alec started to explain before he shut his mouth as the humiliation from earlier started to come back forcefully making him not want to explain to the Vice Principal what the she-demon had said to him.

"It's okay, Alexander, take your time," Magnus said scooting his chair closer to Alec's so he could rub his back. Vehemently, Alec shook his head as his humiliation started to, once more, show with tear tracks painting his face; he didn't want to cry over it again but it was just so hard when it hadn't even been an hour ago when Camille humiliated him in front of the entire student body of the Freshman Class.

"Look, Alec, I can't help you if you don't tell me all that occurred in that hallway. Camille could get away with what she's done all because you didn't speak up and tell me what happened" Mr. Garroway told him catching Alec's tear-stained hazel eyes with the expression that exuded nothing but the fatherly need to know what happened to one of his children.

How Alec wishes Mr. Garroway was his real father, but he wasn't and Alec can't choose him family sadly.

Trying to draw strength from both Magnus and Mr. Garroway, he tried to force the words that Camille said to him out of his mouth, "Sh-She s-s-said, "W-W-Wow, Th-Thi-Thickw-w-wood, di-did-didn-didn't exp-exp-expe-expect tha-tha-that t-to be-be i-in-in you-you-your l-l-locker. Gu-Gu-Guess Ma-Mag-Magnus' di-dic-dick mus-must not satis-sat-satisfy tha-that hun-hun-hungr-hungry a-a-as-ass-ass ho-hol-hole o-of-of you-yours." I-I-I jus-jus-just wa-want-wanted it t-to b-be ov-ov-over."

"Thank you for your candor, can you tell me what she said or what happened next?" Mr. Garroway asked in a calm voice like he'd used at first seeing as the little push he gave Alec helped him overcome some of the humiliation of her statement.

"Sh-She the-then m-m-made f-f-fun o-of-of m-me cr-cr-crying, an-an-a-and th-the-then sai-sa-said I-I-I sh-sh-should-shouldn-shouldn't ha-ha-have b-b-brou-brought th-those-those thi-thi-things to-to-to sch-sch-scho-school i-if I-I-I did-did-didn-didn't wan-wan-want the-the-them to-to p-p-pop out-out of m-my l-l-locker."

"OK," Mr. Garroway said letting Alec pause for a moment as Magnus wiped away his tears from his cheeks before Alec continued on with what happened.

"A-Af-After-After tha-that she-she-she w-w-want-wanted ev-every-everyon-everyone t-t-to sho-show m-me a-a-a go-go-good t-t-time."

"And that's when Mr. Lewis jumped in saying that it was enough" Mr. Garroway said connecting the story to what someone before them must've told him.

"That's also when Raphael and I noticed the crowd and decided to intervene as well. He decided to stop Jonathan from hurting Simon while, at the same time, allowing me enough time to pull Alexander away from the crowd" Magnus told the Vice Principal with an honest expression on his face as Alec's tears started drying after he was able to get through the most humiliating parts of what happened.

By no means was Alec over what had just happened, but he was happy to tell someone who could suspend Camille and Jonathan for what had happened to him and, jumping in to divert their attention, Simon as well.

"Mr. Lewis has corroborated your story with everything you just told me, but Camille and Jonathan are fighting against it saying that you had, indeed, brought the phallus' to the school of your own accord and had just been caught with them falling out of your locker" Mr. Garroway told them as he looked apologetic at the fact he can't just suspend or expel the two wrong-doers right that second.

"What about Raphael and Simon?" Magnus asked the Vice Principal as the two boys who had tried to help Alec had been showing signs of wanting to be his friend, and Alec was actually hoping the two were actually trying to be that for him.

Raphael was giving up his popularity status all because he'd decided that bullying Alec wasn't worth it anymore after his grand explosion Monday that showed him that, apparently, bullying him had been against Raphael's better judgment.

Simon was a kid that just came out of left field so suddenly that Alec didn't know what to make of him, but the friendly manner with which he had started greeting Alec had been a surprising comfort to him over the last couple of days. It was like Simon was trying to be friendly to him to the point he was endearing himself to Alec quickly.

The two teens coming to Alec's defense had helped some of his earlier humiliation to die down due to the shock they gave him, but it looked so natural...as if they'd wanted to do it for more than personal gain, though, Alec wasn't going to put all of his cards in the deck on both of them quite yet.

He didn't become who he was by not being cautious of others actions.

"Raphael, regrettably, has been suspended for two weeks due to fighting while Simon was let off due to the fact he hadn't fought with Mr. Morgenstern nor Miss Belcourt" Mr. Garroway answered looking apologetic towards the both of them as he broke the news about Raphael's punishment to them.

"That's, um, that's understandable," Magnus said nodding his head as he seemingly understood just why Raphael was punished, but Alec was just grateful that Simon hadn't been uselessly punished because he was there and had tried to stop Camille from verbally abusing Alec any longer.

All too suddenly, the door to the room opened and a very strict looking woman appeared in the doorway. She was dark red-headed, had a strict pair of grey eyes, and she looked like she was about to deliver a blow so monumental that none of the three sitting men would be able to handle it.

"I hereby have suspended Alexander Lightwood for two weeks" the bombshell that dropped from her mouth had Magnus standing up from his chair in order to demand why from the woman who looked at the boy Alec was so infatuated with that he dare say he was on the razor's edge of saying love, with her strict, angry, eyes.

"Mr. Bane, I suggest you don't order me around or I will give you the same punishment" she threatened as her eyes just asked for him to tempt her, but Magnus knew when to keep his mouth shut in front of someone who had all the cards in her deck.

"I have taken Miss Belcourt and Mr. Morgenstern's side on this, and, due to Mr. Lightwood bringing such objects to the school, he is hereby dismissed for the rest of the day. I will be seeing you again in two weeks, Mr. Lightwood."

As she exited the office, Alec tilted his head down ashamed that his abusers, once more, weren't punished even after the blatant display of harassment. Alec, standing up and picking his backpack up, made his way to the door, "Alexander?" Magnus asked forcing Alec to stop at the door.

"Please, don't do this" Magnus begged him with sadness and heartache in his voice.

Alec's eyes were focused on the floor as he stuttered out his reply, "Wh-Wh-Wha-What ch-ch-choice d-d-d-do I ha-ha-have? Sh-Sh-She ma-ma-made it p-pr-pretty cle-cle-clear tha-th-th-that I-I-I ne-nee-needed t-to g-g-go h-h-ho-home."

Opening the door, Alec walked down the hall and, as he was going towards the front doors where Maryse was once more waiting for him, Camille and Jonathan passed him on their way back to the Freshman Hallway both with smirks on their faces as the looked at him.

As he walked up to the car, Alec felt his emotions start to change from the giant wave of humiliation to something akin to anger, and this anger just was fueled by Maryse saying, "You have, yet again, caused this family a tremendous amount of humiliation. Get in the car, and when you get home, you can explain why I found a lock on your bedroom door."

Was Alec not allowed even a sliver of happiness? Was his life only supposed to contain nothing but sorrow? If so, he wants the sorrow to take a hike.


	34. 9/13/17 - Luke's POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Mr. Garroway finds out that Idris High isn't all it's cracked up to be via the Principal herself.

As the school day comes to a close, Luke's mind just can't get over what happened at the beginning of the day. The scene kept constantly re-playing over and over again like a broken record in his head.

He'd had the situation under control, he wasn't going to suspend Alec like Raphael had to, unfortunately, be as Alec was the clear victim in Camille and Jonathan's plot to humiliate the kid to the point he cried; they'd gotten their wish from the footage the other Freshman had taken with their cellphones and from Alec's own admission.

For Imogen to just open the door so suddenly and blatantly tell, the intended victim of Camille and Jonathan's horrific bullying, that he was suspended was beyond unfair. Alexander Lightwood didn't look like the kind of teenager to walk around with so many phalli falling out of his locker, no with the way he clung to Magnus' hand, he looked like he didn't have many or any friends at all.

From what Luke gathered with his talk to Simon Lewis, the Jewish teen had depicted a teen that is so close to the edge of losing himself that one wrong push would end it all for the teen, but Simon also told him, during his rambling explanation about what happened in the Freshman Hallway, that Magnus was the first person to just walk right up to Alec on the first day of school.

After that, the two had virtually become inseparable, and Luke had seen the evidence in front of him as the two sat together as well as the point Magnus started wiping away Alec's tears as he recounted the awful things Camille had said about him.

Luke couldn't do any more work as the clock hit five in the evening. He still had more to do, but his head just wasn't in it as he kept replaying the sick response Imogen had given him earlier when he'd barged into her office asking why Camille and Jonathan weren't getting punished like she'd just done Alec.

_"We need funding, Mr, Garroway, and the most funding we are getting is by both Camille and Jonathan's parents. We can't very well suspend them just because a teenaged boy can't handle a prank."_

_"A prank? That's what you're chalking this all up to be? A prank against a teenager who, just last week, had a break down in English class basically admitting that he is getting bullied yet all you do is let the teens, that actually proved him right, go and he gets the suspension sentence instead."_

_"Watch your tone of voice with me, Luke, because I'm not afraid to fire you."_

_"Some school Idris High is turning out to be when all the Principal cares about is funding and not the students trying to learn in her building."_

Luke had gone back to his office feeling so much disgust he couldn't even handle looking at anyone in the hallways as classes changed. He knew that, out of the six kids that had participated in what happened in the Freshman Hall, three of them should've been suspended, and Alec Lightwood shouldn't have been one of them.

Raphael Santiago, yes, Camille Belcourt, definitely, Jonathan Morgenstern, he should've been suspended for a month by now, but he, again, got off scottfree after putting Alec in the hospital the first time and then now after trying to beat Raphael up.

Keyword there being: tried. He didn't exactly win the fight that had transpired as he had a busted lip, a bleeding nose, and a cut above his eyebrow. Raphael came out with just some busted knuckles and a bruised jaw.

You'd think "to the victor goes the spoils" but, unfortunately, the world isn't in the times of Kings and Queens anymore. To the victor goes a two-week suspension for fighting on school grounds, and it just made Luke even sicker to his stomach as he climbed into his Escalade so he could be on his way home.

"Luke!" came a voice that was familiar to him, but couldn't place it right at that moment. Turning around to see who was calling out to him, he saw it was Mr. Starkweather, the gym teacher. "Hodge, hey man, how's it going?" Luke asked him as he leaned against his SUV.

"Good, good, I heard something went down with Alec Lightwood today and he got suspended."

Scuffing his shoes against the asphalt of the parking lot, he looked down and then back up at the man, "Yeah, the kid got suspended for basically doing nothing but getting humiliated in front of his entire class."

Hodge's eyes flinched, "What? Seriously? Was it you or Imogen that suspended him?"

"Imogen, I was planning on just hearing about what happened in order to make sure his and Simon's stories lined up, but Imogen opened the door then in no uncertain terms told him he was suspended for filling his own locker with phallus'."

Hodge shook his head in disbelief, "No, no, from what I know of Alec Lightwood, that kid just wants to be left alone. I've seen Magnus Bane hanging out with him and they seem really close, but there's no way that kid would make a one-eighty from who he is just to get so readily picked on."

"Bullied, and yeah I saw all that with my own eyes when Alec was in my office earlier. The kid seems to be getting a couple of friends out of Raphael Santiago and Simon Lewis, but I don't know how close they've gotten to him yet."

"If they, do, become his friends, it'll do wonders for his personality and self-esteem. That kid needs all the support he can get, and I doubt he's getting it from home."

Rubbing his brow, Luke had to silently agree with the other man as he knew no well cared for child had self-esteem so low that it was made of glass, "I don't know, man, but what I do know is that Imogen needs to stop thinking about filling pockets and start caring about the students roaming the halls - maybe then we wouldn't be having this problem."

"I hear you, but hey, I'll catch you later, man," Hodge said as he saw students coming to tryouts for Football.

The Idris Angels, the football players always end up turning into absolute machines once the season begins and they run that way until it ends.

Luke watched as Hodge booked it back to the school building before Luke opened the driverside door and left to go home.

The only thing he can hope is that Alec doesn't do anything stupid while he's away from school.


	35. 9/13/17 - Raphael's POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where we see a glimpse into a loving Mother/Son relationship, the information Raphael already knows about Imogen, and his decision to do something about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Shadowhunters Tuesday everyone! I thought I was stumped on this chapter until I buckled down and wrote it out. Thank you for continually commenting, giving this story kudos, and bookmarking it so you can stay up-to-date on all that is going on in the story! We're getting so close to the 50 Chapters mark that I'm, honestly, surprised the story has lasted this long so thank you again, for being on this journey with me!

Taking a deep breath, Raphael put his hands in his trouser pockets as he watched a strict-looking woman in a silver car pull up in front of Idris High, and he wasn't disillusioned enough to know this woman was obviously very disappointed, very angry, and she was ready to rip Alec Lightwood a new asshole once she saw him coming towards her.

This had to be Mrs. Lightwood, Alec's Mother, and the person he'd called "she-dragon" in his sleep-deprived rant Monday that left him in the Nurses office where he slept most of his melatonin high off. This was also one of the toxic people in Alec's life where the love he was supposed to be getting from his parents just wasn't there.

What child ended up like Alec if they had loving parents to come home too?

"Mijo?" a very familiar voice asked forcing Raphael from his thoughts in order to look up at the Hispanic woman that he adored with all of his heart.

"Hola, Mama," he said standing up and wrapping his arms around her small frame. Even now, he was starting on his way to towering over her, and it felt right to him that he'd tower over her like the protective son he always felt he needed to be.

"How are you? Why are you getting suspended? Did you fight someone?" she asked him as she looked him up and down seeing a bruise on his jaw and an abrasion on his cheek but his eyes remained respectably open like a person who'd taken a few hits but delivered more would have.

"I'm fine, Mama. Yeah, I fought someone, but it was for a good reason" he told her calmly and softly as he took one of her hands and placed it on his cheek allowing her to touch the abrasion and, though it hurt a little, it didn't bother him in the slightest.

"Fighting someone never has a good reason" she chastised him lightly as she cupped his cheek with her hand as she looked at him lovingly in the eyes as she tried to figure out why her little boy was doing something so reckless.

"Mi amigo, he was being bullied, burlado (taunted), and no one was stepping in to help him besides Simon. Simon, he was down on the floor trying to get away from Jonathan, but él no lo dejaría ir (he would not let him go). So I stepped in to help both of them until they could escape from him and his su chica (his girl)" he explained to her hoping she now understood why he'd done it.

"Ganaste? (Did you win?)" she asked him looking at him with more of an understanding of why her little mijo had done something so reckless now. He had been protecting two people that he cared about, and he fought this Jonathan boy to ensure they both were able to get away.

Raphael nodded his head in assent as he closed his eyes and kept his mother's hand on his injured cheek.

"Estoy tan orgulloso de ti (I'm so proud of you)," she told him with a loving smile on her face now.

Those words sent a shiver down his spine as he thought that he'd done well enough to warrant his mother being proud of him for fighting rather than being disappointed with him.

"You do what you must to protect those that mean something to you, even if they are unable to protect themselves when they are in danger. Lo hiciste bien, pequeño (You did good, little one)" she tells him with tears in her eyes; tears that she would no longer allow to flow down her cheeks.

She's cried over too much in her lifetime to allow any more tears to be shed, but she did allow them to crowd her eyes in order to show that she can still feel such a tremendous happiness for how her son took care of his friends when they couldn't help themselves.

Once they got home that afternoon, Raphael went to his room after making sure to check in on Kendrick's mother and letting his mother he'd be in his room should she need him for anything.

Laying down on his bed after changing into a pair of grey sweatpants, he allowed himself get absorbed into his thoughts as he thought on what had just occurred between him, Alec, Simon, Jonathan, Camille, and Magnus. There were so many things going on at once that it had all happened way too quickly.

Now that he was able to slow it down in his head and think on all that had gone on before and half-way during First Period, he remembers seeing Alec looking so humiliated at first as he processed in that moment what had just happened to him. Raphael had been all too willing to jump in at that moment because he was supposed to be protecting him from these sorts of situations while trying to gauge how he felt about them when they occurred, but it hadn't been him that'd jumped in first.

It was Simon, the teen that Raphael had been talking with, almost non-stop, since they met. Simon who rambled on about something dealing with Star Wars and how some creature or thing named Jarjar Binks could've totally been some undercover Sith Lord or whatever, and a very detailed plan on how to make Alec Lightwood their friend without being too obvious about to the point that Alec felt is was natural for them to be around.

He had plans from A to Z, and he'd covered them all with Raphael on a three-hour call that was supposed to be about helping Simon out with a World Geography assignment but had somehow spun into their mutual need to become Alec's friends without being overly obvious about it.

Or, at least trying to be.

This teen who has "Operation: Alec" down to a science, willingly jumped in only to get pushed down and have a foot planted on his sternum made Raphael feel something he wasn't too familiar with; it felt like something all the kids these days called a "teen crush" or something equally as annoying, but he wasn't entirely convinced.

Raphael had then pushed passed his peers in order to get in and help both Simon and Alec, but it hadn't been Raphael who'd thrown the first blow, no, he'd been more into trying to get Jonathan off Simon with a grip on his neck like an alpha wolf would do when one of his betas was getting out of line.

It was Jonathan who'd elbowed him in the nose, but it'd been Raphael who'd finished it once teachers had finally been able to make their ways into the fray. At the end of the day, however, Jonathan had been deemed a victim of Raphael's "bullying" of him.

Everyone in Sophmore year and above knew all that Principal Imogen Herondale only cared about money and nothing about them, and they all try to warn the Freshman year about her ability to make everyone that bullied anyone the victim if they lined her pockets well enough while, those less fortunate, were called the bully instead.

So it wasn't just bad kids that Imogen cared less about, it was the student body as a whole as well. Raphael was inclined to think the woman corrupt to the point that he'd speculate she needed overthrowing, and what better way than to call her out by using the very boy he was trying to become friends with?

He knew that Vice Principal Lucian Garroway was a good man, good former teacher, and good father, but his abilities to do the right thing by Alec were being hindered by the very person who'd hired him, and it showed when Mr. Garroway had to suspend him for fighting.

_"I hate to do this, and I know you were beating Jonathan up for a good reason, but I can't condone fighting in Idris High. I'm going to have to suspend you for a couple of weeks, Raphael, I'm sorry, but there's just no other way around it" Mr. Garroway said as they both sat in the Vice Principal's office._

_"I understand, just don't let anything bad happen to Simon or Alec. That's all I ask" Raphael told him before he got up from his seat._

_"I'll try," Mr. Garroway told him with a firm voice and look on his face._

It'd all been in vain though as he'd heard Alec too, had been suspended for no other reason than to protect the money coming into the school, and it had made Raphael furious to know that, yet again, Alec had been let down by someone who refused to acknowledge the obvious pain the teen was in.

How were he and Simon supposed to help Alec when no one other than a few teens were willing to look after him while in school? How was he supposed to help Alec grow from the scared, hurt, and sad teen when no one else took him seriously?

That's when Raphael decided to put into a motion a plan of his own, a plan that'd help him overthrow Principal Imogen Herondale from her seat of power. After all, how were the little people supposed to grow when the overlords decided they weren't worth it?

Getting up from his bed, his brain worked in overdrive as he opened a notebook and got to work. This wasn't just for Simon or Alec, this was for the betterment of the school.


	36. Thurs - 9/14/17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we see a baby brother's unconditional love for his big brother and Raziel gives wise words through one of his servants as Alec finally finds the strength to start progressing forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey-lo! I just wanted to let everyone know this took a little longer as I saw a glaring timeline error that I went back and fixed so everything is good to go!

The first day of his two-week suspension started out like any other day, Alec got up, got a pair of clean clothes ready to put on after a shower, jumped into the aforementioned shower, dried off on a towel, put his clothes on and that's where his day diverted from normal to abnormal.

Where he went from getting ready for school to wondering what he was going to do since he couldn't go onto school grounds to see Magnus, became a very real reality especially when he eyes the naked hole in his door where the door handle once was. His parents had told him they couldn't trust him not to put another deadbolt into his door so they took it and his door handle meaning anyone at any time could walk in and he had no say in the matter.

Guess that's what he gets for trying to silently rebel against a household that didn't like who he is no matter what he does.

He hadn't cried, sobbing or otherwise, about his parent's blatant refusal to see him as someone worth the affections they give to Jace, Isabella, and Max. By this point, he feels, that all the tears he has have been shed by the people that are supposed to love him, protect him, to encourage him, and he's just tired of their callousness towards him.

He's getting restless, he's getting angry, he's getting fed up with the absolute bullshit that's happening around him, but he's containing his emotions well enough that everyone in the house can't see the volatile cocktail of emotions that his mind that is screaming to make them pay for all the years of mistreatment they've given him.

Silence is golden at this moment as he sees Jace walk by his door seeming to be ignoring his existence right at that moment, but that will only last for so long in the next two weeks as Alec was his favorite toy to torment. Jace won't waste this opportunity when it was laid right before him on a silver platter nor will Isabelle when she sees Alec's sitting there in his room looking like he is right now.

He didn't know if he felt so much lost than he felt he had no one to go to for help, no one to go to for support as he didn't know Simon, Raphael, or Magnus' addresses, and he just all of a sudden felt like he had no one.

That's when he decided to go to the one place that had provided him someone to talk to, something to believe in, and someone that wouldn't judge him no matter what he's done.

Getting his jacket, he pulled open his door, walked out of it, and saw the family sitting at the dining table for breakfast. "Aec! Aec! Aec!" came his littlest brothers voice that pulled the walls of righteous fury down from around his soul as he looked at his baby brother.

Max, it seems, was immune to everyone elses poisoning of Alec towards him. Alec's afraid a few years down the line he'll conform, but right now, Max was reaching his sticky hands out to him which made Alec send him a soft smile as he walks towards him.

No one dared say anything bad about Alec picking the littlest Lightwood up and onto his hip. The happy squeal that rang from Max's mouth rang throughout the room which made Jace and Robert cringe, but both kept their mouths shut as Alec started to feed Max bits of bread from the pancake he forced himself to eat.

The tension was thick enough you could cut it with a blunt knife, but Max didn't seem to notice it as he ate at the sticky syrup-filled bites of pancake Alec gave him as his hazel eyes roamed around the room as if tracking something imaginary that the others couldn't see.

The maple syrup dripping down his chin and onto his bib was the cutest thing Alec had ever seen, and he hoped any children he has in the future was as cute as he was being but such thoughts are best left to the future, and not the present as he eats another pancake with Max sitting in his lap before the suffocating tension eventually forces himself away from his favorite person in the house.

He cleaned his own plate up, and then quickly vanished out the front door without a backward glance; Maryse or Robert not yelling at him to know where he was going as they simply didn't care anymore.

His parents were also in a transition period where they were forcing themselves to deal with the fact Alec will never be the person they always wanted him to be; it was sad, really, but some parents can't handle a child of theirs not conforming to their standards of how to be, how to think, and how to feel.

Alec guessed it was a pill he had to force himself to swallow when they resumed conversing with their other three children before Alec even closed the door behind himself. He allowed a couple tears to be released from his eyes before he took a couple of deep breaths and made his way to Brooklyn Sanctuary of Raziel.

Walking in through the double doors is like a weight that lifts off Alec's shoulders as he sees the lines of pews lining both sides of a purple rug leading towards an angelic figure whose wings were stretched out encompassing the entirety of the back of the Sanctuary where he, Raziel, was housed. The light of the morning streaming through lite his wings with a golden glow through the plain stained glass window behind him.

The Soul Sword was within his grasp and was said in the Testament of Raziel that it could either slay the damned, force a soul to tell the truth, or find the true form of a soul within a person's body and force it forward to make the person acknowledge they were more or less than what they saw themselves as. His angelic face spoke of knowledge, serenity, and happiness that many never saw on religious idols' faces when they come to holy places, but Alec sees it.

"Welcome back, my son" came the same voice from the man that gave him sanctuary within the holy walls just last Friday. The man was garbed in gray just like Alec remembered, but this time it was a lighter gray more like fresh-laid concrete than the darker grey of used cement.

"H-Hi" Alec greeted as he tried to stand up straighter than he'd just been hoping it showed him in a better light despite what his muffin top exterior that, admittedly, he was starting to feel shouldn't be there.

"What has brought you back to the walls of the Sanctuary? You're not enduring more heartbreak as you seem more settled despite what happened Friday" the Brother observed looking at him with his gleaming brown eyes that seemed to be glimpsing into his soul from just a few feet away.

"N-No I-I-I am m-mo-m-more s-s-set-set-settl-settled th-the-there," Alec tells him as he turns fully towards him. The man, though wearing a hood to hide his bald head, seemed to radiate the light and hope that the idol at the back of the building also exuded through his golden halo surrounding him.

"Then what brings you back to Raziel's Sanctuary? I can feel an anger coming from your soul that wasn't present there before" the Brother tells him still picking Alec apart like an interesting book and Alec immediately feels unsettled even though he knew not to expect anything less than a man such as him.

The Silent Brothers weren't actually always silent but many in their old ages take a vow of silence before their times come to pass under the cream-colored veil in order to meet Raziel. No one has witnessed a Silent Brothers burial, but it is said that they are burned on a pyre much like the Vikings had done in the old times to go to Valhalla.

But it was just a rumor from those who claimed to have seen it yet no footage has ever been documented of it actually happening.

"I-I-I am-am t-t-ti-tired of-of st-st-stut-stutter-stutteri-stuttering all th-the t-t-time, ti-tire-tired of-of feel-feeli-feeling help-helpless a-a-and use-usele-useless, tire-tired of ev-every-everyo-everyone t-t-taking me for gra-gran-granted, and tired of, of just fucking being someone I feel I'm not!" Alec exploded at the man as his stutter eventually left him in his anger-filled explanation once more.

The Silent Brother stood there unmoved by Alec's explosion of anger as he took in the teens words, his facial expression of helplessness and anger, and the stance his body went in that was slumped over from where it had been as straight as he could stand.

"To change yourself, you must first find what needs to be changed and accept it's there," the Brother tells him as he walks towards Alec without any caution; as if knowing that Alec wouldn't unjustly lash out at him for no reason.

"Wh-W-What?" Alec asked him as he started to calm down from his explosion of anger, but it was nowhere near enough to settle the anger he was feeling though it was enough to take the edge off on it.

"Raziel teaches us that we must first find what we feel needs to change within our very being and acknowledge that something so we can start the process of changing that little bit" Brother Jeremiah explains as he motions Alec to start walking towards the angelic idol.

"Take your stutter, it only slips away when you get angry or upset, but being upset and angry all the time won't help you become the person you feel is inside of you" the Silent Brother explained as he takes the tome from the table he stands at on early Sunday mornings when he gives service to those that still believe in Raziel's healing powers and his hope for all of humanity.

Brother Jeremiah brings it over to him and sits down on the pew at the front where Alec had taken a seat once he'd gotten there. "Raziel says, "My children that seek change must first see for thyself the problem thy wish to change then bear upon this burdenous aspect of oneself so it may change slowly, over time until it may change to flower or fiend.""

To Alec, it sounded like the angel was somehow trying to tell him that he had to acknowledge all that he wanted to change and then nurture the changes that he wished to make in order to see them grow into something beautiful or end up something bad; Alec can tell you the former is better than the latter as he thought of the Brother's words.

"D-Doe-Does i-it-it s-say h-h-how l-l-lon-long it'll-it'll t-t-ta-take?" Alec asks him hoping for a quick solution.

"No, it depends on how much will you have within your body to change what you don't like about yourself, my son. It is up to you to change what you don't like, and it's up to you to work on changing this aspect that you don't like."

What he said was entirely true, it was up to Alec's on hard work and will to change anything about himself that he didn't like, but he had been hoping for something easier.

It wouldn't be worth it if everything in life came easy, and he's quickly finding that out. It's like those video games people play with quests on it that force you to go through multiple other things before finally getting to the prize.

The end of his stuttering could be the prize, the shock on his parents and siblings faces will be the prize, and the knowledge he did it all on his own with the help of Mr. Fell will be the prize that could come at the end of it.

With these words of wisdom, Alec walked out of the Sanctuary with a new sense of motivation to strive towards his ideal self. No longer would he draw himself as a different person with pencil and sketch pad, no, he's going to start trying to change himself little by little until he's an unstoppable force that won't take anyone's shit anymore.

For now, Alec has to work on one bit of himself at a time until then.


	37. Fri - 9/15/17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Authoress says there is NC-17 scene inside, and a more motivated Alec.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me for the last sentence in this chapter, I just couldn't help but put it in there :'D

Friday, one day after being suspended from school started out the same as yesterday, but this time he didn't go downstairs to join his parents and siblings for breakfast, no, this time, he decided to stay up in his room in order to continue drawing on his fictional self.

Alexander Gideon Lightwood was a strong Shadowhunter who, though being insecure with his own sexuality, knew that he couldn't hide who he is forever. Especially since the captivating High Warlock, Magnus Bane, was luring him into his arms bit by bit with his coy, seductive attitude, his blatant use of colorful and enticing clothing that were tastefully left open, and the accessories around his neck that only highlighted his sinfully crafted chest that'd leave the drawn Alec panting softly unbeknownst to himself.

Alec, in the real life, could only imagine what his Magnus would do should the both of them be in his character's position. His Magnus was patient, kind, and wore clothes that hugged his body but still left the ability to imagine what could be under them.

And, believe Alec when he says, he's been imagining lately here and there what the strong chest under his clothes looked like; his imagination always satisfied him in some way but left him feeling wanting. He wanted to see the hard plains of muscle that laid hidden under his maybe-boyfriend's clothes, he wanted to be able to map out the ridges that'd ebb and flow under his fingers as Magnus' abs clenched from the feel of Alec's fingers, and, more than anything, he wanted to let his tongue taste the sinful plains so he could commit it to memory when, finally, his imaginary Alexander could experience such a heaven as well.

The throbbing in his jeans was telling Alec that his imagination had run away from him as he kept imagining sinking his fingers and teeth into Magnus' torso while his tongue tasted and teased his Asian lover.

Angel, he wanted everything he was imagining and more as he decided to retreat, stiffly, to his bathroom, where the door handle was still present, so he could have some private time from anyone who thought to come in and ruin the time he needed to himself.

After closing and locking the door behind himself, he leaned against the door in order to get his head back on straight, but the images and ghostly feel of Magnus' torso on his lips and hands were making it very hard to concentrate; by this point it was futile to fight against the need to experience something he never has before.

He's never worked himself up like this before and it was hard to ignore what was going on in his pants. Of course, Alec already knew that, with sexual thoughts, comes erections and with erections comes the need to take care of it so no one sees what's happened.

After the sharp feeling of euphoria from just kissing Magnus, Alec had expected his body to go back to its dormant state when it came to sexual related experiences, but no, it seemed once that switch had been flipped, it was destined to always be on with him as he unbuttons and unzips his pants.

After pulling his pants and boxer briefs down, his engorged flesh sprang up and smacked his jacket which had Alec immediately taking it off without a qualm just so it wouldn't get messed up by the cum that was going to come out of it.

The first touch of his right hand had him letting out a strangled moan as his legs turned to jelly after the first time he made the first pull of his fist. It was like the world was fading away around him and all he could focus on was the burning pleasure that shot through him as he kept stroking himself over and over again just to keep feeling it.

His mind was so clouded that Magnus and his beautiful visage wasn't even needed as he kept stroking himself up and down for a few seconds until the clouds finally parted and his mind returned to feeding him images of Magnus lying down and Alec's lips skirting of the beautiful expanse that was Magnus' upper body.

His member throbbed after the continued imagining of what Magnus would look like, how Magnus would writhe under him from the stimulation that Alec would give his nipples when he'd finally get to them, and then the feel of Alec sliding his heated flesh against his abdominal muscles which had him panting with exertion as his mind kept going.

As soon as it supplied him with Magnus whispering his name in a sultry tone of voice, his body jolted and his heated flesh started to squirt out ejaculate onto his shirt covered torso as his mind turned into a puddle of endorphins that were rewarding him for his efforts.

"Oh, angel" Alec panted as his mind stayed flooded for a few more seconds.

He'd read about how mind-blowing orgasms could be, but he never expected them to be as people said they were; after all, usually, everything on the internet was garbage anyways but this, this, was something the internet got right as he finally came down from cloud nine and saw the stains from his orgasm on his t-shirt.

Quickly whipping it off, Alec laid there for another few more minutes as his legs re-solidified themselves and he got his bearings back so he could stand up, go to his sink, and wash off his hand.

Looking up into the mirror, he saw himself in a different light right then. Yeah, he wasn't in the best physical shape, now that he was finally acknowledging it, but he wasn't as bad as some of the grown-ups he saw dawdling about down the streets either.

Trying to look at himself in a better light could be easier than he thought if he just set his mind to it before it veered off into self-depreciation territory; Alec started to feel like maybe Principal Herondale hadn't punished him, but did him a favor in giving him time to gather his bearings with who he wanted to be versus the boy he's always been.

Bum and flesh still sticking out of his pants, he started making plans as he washed up. He would start with getting the physique he imagined himself to always have, and then he'd go from there as he'd force his mind from falling into the dark thoughts he'd been battling recently.

Then, and only then, would he work on his biggest problem: his stutter. As soon as he achieved the muscular body that the Alexander in his imaginary comics had, he'd then work on the thing he hated most about himself.

With a small spark of determination, he pulled his pants up and walked out into his room to grab a new shirt so he could move from fantasizing about being muscular, and start to actually make it happen.

He was like Captain America - he was a man with a plan.


	38. Sat- 9/16/17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is NC-17 right away, and we see that things are increasingly becoming in good favor where the student body, and Magnus, is concerned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two days late, and two dollars short, but here it is!
> 
> I, literally, am trying to pull at just about any plot bunny I can in order to make this story happen. Though I'm struggling right now, I hope you all can continue to support the story.

_"Oh, Alexander" Magnus praised as the tight muscles around his flesh squeezed him beautifully as he continued to push himself in and out of his beautiful, beautiful lover over and over again._

_"M-Magnus, Magnus, please" Alexander whimpered out as his legs pushed Magnus' hips into him more, making his cock go deeper into him, plundering him further than he'd been for the last few minutes._

_Magnus' arms started to shake from keeping himself held up away from Alexander's beautifully plump body, angel's above he didn't know how much longer he could keep himself from, once more, tasting the milky white skin under him._

_Angel, he was so close to cumming from just feeling the tight ring of muscles continually trying to suck him in and keep him there._

_So close, until an unearthly screeching noise appeared in his dream._

Shooting his right hand out, he slammed onto the snooze button with a swiftness that'd make a trained marksman proud as he sleepily glared at the contraption.

"You fuck, I was enjoying that dream" Magnus cursed at the alarm as he put his pillow over his messy bedhead. The hardened stick between his thighs demanded his attention as he hadn't even been able to cum in that lovely, beautiful, x-rated dream he was just having.

His panting breaths under the pillow gave him a clue that, even physically, he'd been keyed up from his dream enough to feel it to the point it caused his breathing to become irregular, but, he figured, that's what dreams about the hottest boy in school does to you.

Even his imaginary self causes you to nearly go apeshit if the dream is interrupted.

If he put his hand down his sweatpants, and jerks himself off hard and fast with the images that he still vaguely remembers from the dream, nobody can blame him. Alexander may not have that effect on a lot of people, but damn did he have it on Magnus.

Magnus could sing praises as high as the angelic realm if he was so compelled to do it, but he wouldn't right now as Alexander wasn't there to hear him sing the said praises.

After wiping his hand with tissue to clean it off, he laid back down on his bed thinking of all that's happened since the day both Alexander and Raphael were suspended.

Many of the students, Freshman to Senior, were unhappy with the way that Principal Herondale had handled the blatant bullying against Alexander that had happened in the Freshman Hallway with how she just let the two students that did it go.

There was an immediate outcry for justice against Camille, Jonathan, and the Principal for how the older woman was promoting bullying in an age where children were trying to be taught to go against it. The Anti-Bullying Club of Idris' Twitter feed was astounded with how the Principal had allowed for Camille and Jonathan to be let off without even a write up while Alexander and Raphael had been unfairly suspended from school.

Though this club was unofficial in the eyes of the school, and not many people knew it even existed, least of all Alexander, its Twitter feed had gone viral throughout the school with those that witnessed and heard about what had happened.

They released videos, also, of Alexander's rant that landed him in the Nurses Office when he'd been sleep-deprived.

It still wasn't enough, though, to get the needed authorities attention to do anything about what had happened to his Alexander, and it pissed Magnus off to no end that, though a lot of students had seen what occurred, it was all called circumstantial evidence at best.

What they all wanted was Alexander's account of what happened in order to compare it to Simon, Raphael, Camille, and Jonathan's versions of what happened.

Yes, video evidence was damning when it came to this sort of thing, but also the people involved in what happened needed to give statements, and that would only happen if Alexander was willing to open up and talk about it.

For now, however, everything rode on what the people involved said, but Magnus knew anyone could be bought to look the other way from any sort of situation and he just had to hold out hope that there was someone out there willing to listen.

As he laid there in bed drowning in his thoughts, he felt the need to go see how his Alexander was doing, he needed to make sure his love was getting enough rest, was eating, and just the general knowledge of knowing Alexander wasn't beating himself up over something he had no control over.

Getting up, he decided that the only way to find out where Alexander lived was to do something against school rules that could, also, get him suspended.

He needed to break into the Front Desk at school in order to get Alexander's home information.

Thankfully, it shouldn't be all that difficult with what is going on at school today. It's the Club Meet, where each individual student could sign up for clubs based on their interests that is being held in the school's gymnasium.

They virtually left the door wide open for anyone to just quickly get in and out without really being seen.

Security camera's be damned, Magnus was desperate to find the boy he loves information just to go see him.


	39. Author's Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Author needs your input.

Alright, another one of these dreaded things, but I've been having a few thoughts bouncing around in my head recently and here they are.  I need your guy's input on just how the future of this story will pan out.

  1. I know that I've been painstakingly going day, by day, by day with each and every chapter to the point I've had to post up what day of the week it is just to make sure I don't forget and accidentally write a school day chapter on a weekend day.  
  
I want to know whether you guys are wanting me to pick up the pace with how the story unfolds.  It  **will** cut down on how many chapters this ends up being, but it'll also usher in the climax a bit quicker.  If I do this, I will getting through the characters Freshman Year much quicker, it'll allow me to address the open plot holes (remember how Magnus was on a mission to exploit Jonathan and all the guys that beat Alec up? Yep, I haven't gotten to that point yet), it'll also get Alec towards his first goal faster (the climax) to where he starts changing in order to better himself quicker but it'll be at the expense of putting Brother Jeremiah as a predominantly background entity who will be only ever briefly mentioned.  It'd also either give Simon and Raphael more foreground time depending on how quickly their relationship will progress, or, put them in the background as just a background relationship that forms while around Magnus and Alec whenever they are around.  
  
  

  2. I had planned to bring even more characters into the story in order to either help or hinder Alec's progress, but with the way things are going on right now, I don't believe having them come into play will benefit the story right now.  
  
I want to know whether you actually want them to come in or not.  I had entire Freshman schedules planned out for all of them, but if you all are in line with me in saying they wouldn't effect the story in a positive or negative light, then I'd be willing to trim them off in order to save a bit of air time, but it's completely up to you guys.  I want your opinions on this.  
  
  

  3. I had planned to do all four years of high school with Alec's progression going through each year until graduation when he finally feels like the person he was always meant to be.  
  
I want to know if you all want me to continue on like that with each year being a step in the right direction, if not, I will leave it to one-shots and short fics to explain to you what has happened.



 

I posted this up, because I want you all to be just as much involved in the making of this story as I am.  I may be the one writing it, and having a few ideas to better help the story, but you all are the ones reading it and I want there to be no confusion on what is going on between you, me, and the story.

 

Thank you for the continued support,

Chelsea


	40. Sat - 9/16/17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus and Raphael both make their moves at the same time while Mr. Garroway nearly throws a wrench into their plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Want an excuse for why this hasn't come out sooner? My cat went to the vet to get surgery, but came out with having anemia. My life has revolved around getting him better ever since.
> 
> Also, I've been trying to figure out how to get what you guys want rolling as well which has become very tricky. It will happen, make no mistake, but you might have one or two more chapter like this before the time lapses can be put into place. I will be putting another poll up when it comes time for Alec's first change to happen but, until which time that occurs, we'll continue to chug along.

Arriving at school was the easy part as today was Career Day, and the school was flooded with parents, teachers, students, and other city officials that came out to encourage students to take a focus in the possible career paths that were open to them; Magnus was interested in learning about some of the careers that were being showcased, but he was a teen on a mission - he couldn't be distracted from getting what he wanted.

Winding through endless crowds in his entire black attire was easy as he wasn't given a second glance from anyone, but getting through the Principal's office without a key and no prior lockpicking experience was tricky...especially with his hands behind his back so he didn't bring attention to the fact that, yes, he was breaking into someone's office that could end in him getting expelled, but when desperate times came to desperate measures, well, you could see the predicament he was in.

Believe Magnus when he says that he continually, even as he is putting the bobby pins into the doors handle, berates himself for not asking Alexander where he lives so he wouldn't have to go through this mess just to find out; no one claimed Magnus was the brightest bulb in the package.

You know, when you see all those people in movies and tv shows picklocks with such an easy that it's almost second nature to them, you'd think it'd be that easy as well, but this was becoming trickier and trickier the more Magnus tries to make it work.

Maybe he should've just used a credit card like Google told him too, but, no, he wanted to go the "sneakier" way. Well, the sneakier way wasn't doing anything for him as the bobby pins just weren't cutting it.

The suddenness of Raphael's voice coming up on Magnus' right damn near scared the ghost out of him, "You know, a credit card would've been easier, right?"

Magnus, trying to act like he wasn't just trying to pick the lock on the door, says, "I don't know what you're talking about" before he immediately internally winces when he knows from all those movies and tv shows when someone says that they know they're caught.

"Right, move, I can get us in much easier than silly bobby pins and a prayer," Raphael tells him as he pushes Magnus aside lightly then, turning his back to the door like Magnus just had, slips a card out of his back pocket, into the crack of the door, wiggles it around until they both hear a click, and then turns to the door.

"What're you looking for in here?" Raphael asks him before he even pushes the door open.

"Alexander's address, why?" Magnus asks him looking at the Hispanic teen suspiciously.

"I need a lookout, and I say that's you. I'll get you his address while I'm in here, I just need you to rebuff anyone that tries to come in or distract them from trying to do so" Raphael says looking Magnus in the eyes like it's a non-negotiable decision.

Magnus' jaw worked itself for a minute as he thought over his options, knowing that if the both of them went in it would look suspicious if they were caught coming out, but if one went in with a lookout then it'd just look like Magnus was continuing his loitering around in front of the Principal's door.

"Fine, but don't take too long finding whatever you're going in there for," Magnus told him like his words were non-negotiable as well. Raphael, sensing that Magnus was serious, nodded his head before Magnus stepped up to block Raphael from the view of anyone coming down the hallway in front of them.

Raphael barely opens the door and slips into the room leaving Magnus standing there making sure any student, teacher, or whoever comes by thinks he looks in any way suspicious as he leans against the door frame in a relaxed manner.

He was, internally, still freaking out about the fact that Raphael was inside the Principal's office right now doing whatever he was doing leaving Magnus to try and not put his foot in his mouth when it came to someone walking up to talk to him.

"Magnus, I didn't expect to see you again so soon" and that voice is what put his body on red alert. It wasn't the Principal, no she would've been easy to talk to, it was Mr. Garroway with his pleasant, fatherly smile on his face, kind eyes looked like you could read him with a wide-lens camera, and a relaxed manner that made any student that talked to him spill their deepest, darkest secrets because he was just that likable.

Magnus knew at that moment he was in deep, spiraling shit. Luke Garroway, from the few times Magnus has had to talk to him in the past, was the person every teen looked up to and confided in when they couldn't do so with any of the other teachers.

He was, basically, the entire schools Father and he wore the badge with pride.

"Oh, hey, Mr. Garroway" Magnus greeted trying to not act like he was panicking on the inside from just being near the man.

Mr. Garroway waved his hand in dismissal, "Luke, please, it's the weekend and not during school hours" he told Magnus like he was looking forward to being just "Luke" on the weekends rather than "Mr. Luke Garroway, Vice Principal at Idris High".

"Luke, hi," Magnus says laughing awkwardly as he scratches the back of his neck while looking at the man.

"I know, it's weird to call one of your teachers by their first name, but you'll get used to it," Luke says with his still pleasant smile in place making Magnus' panic to continue to grow.

"Yeah, so how's your weekend thus far?" Magnus asks him trying to steer the conversation back into more comfortable grounds.

"It's going well, you know, I'm taking Clary and her Mom to the Food Market one last time before it closes and the cold weather starts to hit, what about you? Any plans?" Luke responds by looking at Magnus like he had the adults full, undivided attention.

Magnus didn't know how he felt about that, but he let it slide as he said, "I'm just trying to ask around to see if anyone knows where Alexander lives, but unfortunately, they don't." Magnus knows he just pretty much gave Luke an in to go and look for him which is a very bad thing.

"Well, I'm not allowed to give out students contact information, but I could see about getting his address for you if you would like" Luke offered seeming to know how close Magnus and Alexander have really gotten.

"I would love for you too, but Raphael is currently rifling around the Principal's office doing that for me right now, thank you anyway!" was what Magnus wished he could say, but he responded with, "Nah, maybe I can get him to tell me when he comes back from being suspended."

Luke looked unconvinced by how Magnus didn't take his offer, "You sure? Won't take me a minute" the man pushes just slightly to see if Magnus still won't take his offer.

Shaking his head in the negative, if Magnus had known it'd be this easy, he wouldn't have gone along with Raphael getting him the address in the first place.

Damn it, did his life suck.

"Nah, I'm good, before I know it he'll be back to school," Magnus says in a, hopefully, cheery voice that totally didn't mesh with his disappointed and panicking insides.

"Alright, well it was good seeing you, Magnus. Take care" Luke says to him before he walks away to talk to another student.

At that moment, as the door behind him opened, if Magnus was an inner tube, he'd let out all of his air as he mentally tilted his head up and screamed at the ceiling, "Why?"

"Here, Alec's address, and next time, take the man up on his offer - that was in a locked cabinet," Raphael tells him as the tan skinned teen walked away like he hadn't just helped Magnus break into the very person's office who could have them both expelled.

Sending a silent thank you to Raziel, Magnus looked down at the piece of paper that had Alexander's address written down on it before he made his way to the outside world once more.

Time to go see the love of his life after nearly three days without him...he needed hugs and kisses to get himself to calm down.


	41. Sat - 9/16/17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Magnus meets Jace and is thoroughly unimpressed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is finally gearing towards where I want Alec to start going. I was getting entirely too sick of the teen angst that kept making up his character so, in a bid to give him a bit of depth beyond perpetual low followed by extreme highs, I've done what I've done to ensure you guys that he has more emotions than he lets on or has felt over this period of time.
> 
> I think I will do one more Saturday chapter before the official new story line begins with the changes you guys wanted in place.

_Dear Boredom,_

_I hate you dearly._

_Sincerely,  
Alec_

Putting his head on his desk with his head as his headphones played Locking Up the Sun by Poets of the Fall while his entire weight laid on his desk like a defeated person who has lost all will to live; he's more than slightly exaggerating, but he won't verbally admit to anything.

"Hey, asshat, I'm talking to you," Jace says jerking his headphones away just as the end of the song was coming making Alec want to slap the shit out of his younger brother, but he takes a deep breath to keep his violent reaction at bay.

Like all the other reactions he's been keeping at bay the last few days he's been forced to stay home. Alec has always prided himself on never being a violent person, but the last few days with nearly no escape from his younger siblings and parents have been trying on his patience.

The only one he looked forward to being bothered by was his littlest brother who he never minded bursting into his room at random times.

Jace and Izzy have been constant thorn's in his sides since they realized he'd never retaliate aggressively towards them thus making him an easy target to learn how to pick on people that they think are lesser than them; course it didn't stop Alec from leaving them anonymous nasty surprises every now and then.

If anyone thought that the constant sadness he felt crippled him enough to the point he did nothing like pulling pranks on unsuspecting people had another thing coming. These first two weeks at school have been such an emotional rollercoaster that he hasn't been able to grip the wheel tight enough to steer it back on track.

These next two weeks home with the very bane's (hah! pun!) of his existence were going to leave him little choice than to up the severity of his pranks on his nemesis...maybe he could even rope little Max into joining him just to see the pure shock on his siblings faces when they realize that their youngest brother was pulling better pranks on them than they were on Alec.

Right now, however, all Alec wanted to do was hit Jace with a book right in the face, but as he just thought, he had very good control of his violent tendencies.

"Wh-W-What?" Alec snapped out indicated he had no patience for his little brother's crap right now.

"There's some Asian dude at the door looking for you, when I said you didn't live here he told me to shove my attitude back up my ass. Tell that asshole to leave, you fucking cow" Jace said throwing Alec's headphones down on the ground effectively breaking them which caused Alec to nearly see red, but once more, Alec talked himself down from breaking his desk chair over Jace's back.

Alec, getting up like he had more dignity than he felt, trudged towards his bedroom door without glancing back at his little brother whole more than likely trash his room just to spite him; idiots done it plenty of times that Alec keeps all of his special belongings hidden under the floorboards below his bed.

Arriving downstairs, Alec was greeted with a sight for sore eyes. His parents weren't currently home, Izzy was at the mall with her friends, leaving him alone with Jace and Max.

It seems Max was endearing himself to Magnus already, and Alec's heart was nearly spilling out of his chest with how much love he was feeling for the both of them as Magnus played patty-cake with the little boy.

When Magnus looked up at him, Alec's look must've been reflecting what he felt on the inside at that time as the Asian's cheeks took on a red tone as he looked back down at Max.

"Th-T-Thi-This i-is a sur-surp-s-surpr-surprise" Alec commented as he came down the rest of the stairs.

"I know, I couldn't help but want to see you, and I never got your address so I asked Mr. Garroway to look it up for me as a favor," Magnus told him as he picked up Max so they could both greet Alec.

"Aec, Aec, Aec" Max said making grabby hands at his older brother as if he wanted to be held by him instead.

Taking his brother's cue, Alec took him from Magnus' arms in order to hold him instead,"I-It-It's g-go-good t-t-to se-s-see y-yo-you" he muttered out looking at the other teen in a shy manner as he hold's his little brother on his hip likes he's been doing the act for years; which he has. When Izzy came into the world he doted on her until she became old enough to figure out how to treat her older brother when she saw the way all the other kids were treating him.

When Jace came into their lives, he had high hopes that Jace would become his first friend, but he too fell into the crowd of people that wanted to pick on him when he learned what all the popular kids were doing. It suck's how everyone Alec had put his love into turned against him eventually.

He just fears when Max becomes old enough to talk and learn, that'll he'll turn his back on Alec as well.

Alec's fear makes him cling to and give Max more love than he's ever given anyone besides the little boy he met when he was five-years-old. He'd do anything within his willpower to make Max not come to hate or despise him.

Alec saw Max as his last chance at having someone who loves him in his own family even though he knew his flaws, where his parents and other siblings were concerned, ran blood deep.

"It's good to see you too, my love," Magnus says as he put his forehead against Alec's making sure to look into Alec's eyes and show how much he adored Alec.

The happy bubble between the three of them lasted just long enough before Jace interrupted saying, "Please, for the love of the Angel, take your gross feelings for the freak out of the house. He was supposed to tell you to leave when he came down here, but of course, he can't do anything right."

The look of adoration morphed into fury as Magnus pulled his forehead away from Alec's in order to address the blonde on the stairs, "If you have something against Alexander, then you have something against me and I'm not afraid to put an arrogant pipsqueak in his place."

The growl that came with those words gave Alec a shiver that he couldn't pinpoint that was due to fear or to something he couldn't identify quite yet, but whatever it was, Alec wanted more of it. He liked the way Magnus made him feel protected even though he wished he could lash out at the blonde himself, but he pushed his fury to the back of his mind as he watched the confrontation.

"You're seriously standing up for that fat piece of shit? Seriously? Low standards much?"

"My standards, little boy, are unreachable to the likes of you. If you can't see the inside of a person, how can you appreciate the outside?"

"Breasts, legs, ass, and pussy looks all pretty good to me."

"Disgusting" Magnus hissed out as he took Alec's left hand into his. "Excuse us while I go outside to vomit from the filth that just fell from your mouth," Magnus told Jace as he pulled Alec out the front door while he was still holding Max.

Alec knew, without a shadow of a doubt, Magnus wanted to do more than just knocking a few of Jace's teeth out of his mouth.

If this was just the beginning of what Magnus will see from his family, he dreads what will be coming when he meets Maryse, Robert, and Izzy.


	42. The Note and The Rewrite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where I've been and why the story hasn't been updated with the wanted changes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contains some mentioned spoilers about 3A, ye be warned.

As you all remember, about a month or so ago I put out a poll with what you all wanted the story to go with the three options.  I heard your wants and needs for numbers both 1 and 3, and they were going to be awesome!...That is until I realized that I wasn't at all happy with how the story was going.

Yes, the characters were great, Alec was going to hit his first milestone, hopefully, no later than chapter 60 or so, but then I realized just how much teen angst I had poured into this story and how much I flat out hated it.  I get it, teen's can be angst ridden due to hormones changing in their bodies, but I was giving you a scoop of the angst and then making the pile higher and higher, and quite frankly, I was getting rather sick of it.

As a teen, I was angst ridden, sure, but I was the type of kid that was hit with the name calling then the next morning forgot it even existed because I locked them away in my subconscious.  I was the hyper child that wrote poorly written fanfiction in her notebook, had a group of friends that I genuinely loved, and went home to a single mom household that provided for my brother and I the best she could.  I never wanted for love in my life and I never asked for the name calling that'd be dealt to me everyday.

Trying to write Alec's story that has him stuttering (I had more of a problem pronouncing letters) coupled with more issues than Vogue magazine is rather difficult when I never really experienced them myself.

I've also decided to change Alec's character to where he acts a bit more like the Alec in the TV show does before he comes out with a mix of how he is AFTER he comes out...because Maryse and Robert were badasses in my opinion of them not caring about Alec being gay just that he chose Magnus as his boyfriend rather than another Shadowhunter.  The way they said how they didn't care that he was gay is a really significant point in the TV show that shows that, even though Maryse and Robert expected, at times, too much from Alec, they still willingly stood behind Alec despite his sexual orientation.

I also agree with you all that it's really bothering me how I've written Jace and Izzy as well, because they are two of the most loving siblings in the entire book series and TV show just for their sheer willingness to back up any of Alec's decisions and help him when he really needs them.  It's people like them that make those of us that haven't had the best of sibling interactions to better ourselves towards the younger generation - to show them that, despite who our blood is, that the younger generation matter.

Also, Rebecca Lewis who accepts Simon as a vampire I mean, seriously, how much of an awesome sister can you possibly be to be able to stomach your brother becoming a creature of the night just after he drank your blood?

But, yes, those are some of the major issues I'm having with this story overall aside from me going day-by-day trying to make each day interesting when, really, there are time skips available for a reason.  I'm not playing an MMORPG that deals with having to do every little thing in one day to make sure everything is kept going like a well-oiled machine.  The machine is ready to go, it just needs to be activated and that's why I'm rewriting everything so that it'll make a better story to read.

Also, I'm looking for a Beta.  If anyone's interested, just comment and let me know.  I know some of the things I type can get a bit (whole lot) wordy and I'd appreciate the help.

For right now this is on a temporary hiatus pending the re-writing of Chapter 1.

Thank you for all your support.

Chelsea


End file.
